Children of the Dragon Trainers
by TheEarthbendingRavenclaw
Summary: This story is just a bunch of One-Shots set in the same universe as I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant about Hiccup and Astrid's kiddos, and some of the other gang members' kiddos. Set in no particular order. OVERPROTECTIVE DADDY HICCUP IN CHAPTER 9 (Rated T just to be safe.)
1. Special Gift

**A/N:** **I'll be using American Sing Language for Torinth. I'm pretty sure Vikings did use ASL, but they didn't have dragons or fire swords either, so, what the heck?**

Special Gift

Astrid sat up and ran her hand over her extended stomach. She was cramping again. Panic began to rise in her, but she told herself to be calm.

 _This is normal. This is only because your stomach stretching to make room for the baby. This isn't a miscarriage._

She threw the blankets off and set her feet on the floor and stood up. She paced back and forth across her bedroom and rubbed her tight muscles. Inside the baby stirred slightly, causing Astrid's mouth to curl up in a smile. She didn't get to feel the babies moving inside her the first time.

The pain slowly beginning to ease up, Astrid decided to take a walk down the hall to the next door room. The light orange glow of the night candle peaked out from under the door as she opened the door.

Only Annly's pightails, arms, and one foot could be seen poking out beneath her blanket. A stuffed toy Night Fury dangled from one of her hands. On the bed across from hers, Torinth hand his blanket tucked under his arms. Another toy Night Fury tucked under one of his elbows, his thumb stuck in his mouth. Astrid smiled at the twin toddlers. She could hardly believe it had been three years since the two had made their surprise entrance into the world. Now they were expecting a third.

Astrid frowned a bit as she rubbed her hands over her belly again. So many things had gone wrong with her first pregnancy. She'd nearly lost the twins in a riding accident. In fact, for several months she thought she had lost them, only finding out once she'd gone into labor that she hadn't miscarried. Despite the miraculous birth, though, there had still been consequences. About a year ago, they had discovered that Torinth was deaf. Hiccup continually assured her it wasn't her fault. That Torinth may have been born deaf even if the pregnancy had been normal, but Astrid still couldn't help but feel guilty. And she worried deeply that this new child would have something wrong with it.

Astrid leaned against the doorframe and rubbed her belly as she tried to relax and push her fears aside. The baby was kicking hard now, so obviously it was healthy. She had no reason to think there'd be anything wrong, but she couldn't shake the feeling.

As Astrid fought against her worries, she heard a small pitter patter of feet coming towards her. She looked up and saw Torinth running towards her. She blinked in surprise. If she'd woken up one of her children to wake up, she thought it would have been Annly, not Torinth since, well, he couldn't hear.

She smiled at him and held out her hand. Torinth didn't take her hand, however, instead he set his thumb to his chin and spread out his other four fingers in a sign meaning "Mom." He then pointed his two fingers towards each other and jabbed them at each other. Astrid had to think a while before remembering that sign meant "hurt." Since Hiccup, Astrid, and Annly were learning to sign alongside Torinth, they still didn't quite have the hang of it.

Astrid smiled and pinched her thumb, index, and middle finger into the "no" sign.

"No. Mom."

She had to think for a while before she remembered to poke her thumb on chest and spread her fingers out for the "fine" sign.

Torinth didn't look convinced, his concern scowl making him look even more like his father than he usually did. Astrid smiled at him again, and reached to place her hand on his head. Torinth moved forward, out from her touch and placed both hands on her belly, and rubbed tiny circles on the bump. Astrid smiled and ran her fingers through her son's hair. Torinth pressed his cheek against the bump, and turned his head up to into his mother's crystal blue eyes, the only physical trait he'd gotten from her. Torinth stepped back after a few moments, and pretended to rock a baby in his arms. He then gave the sign for fine.

Astrid's jaw fell slack. How had Torinth known she was worried about the baby. Torinth gave the baby sign again, and then patted his chest with both hands in a circular motion in the happy sign. When his mother didn't respond due to shock, Torinth simply smiled and threw his arms around his mother's waist. Astrid set her hand on the back of his head.

How on earth had Torinth known? She didn't tell him. He was only three years old, so it was very unlikely he'd learned to pick up on subtle hints yet. As she pondered her son's actions, she felt a pair of protective arms wrap around her from behind, one hand resting on her baby, the other on Torinth's head.

Astrid looked over her shoulder to find Hiccup's concerned face staring at her with, ironically, the same worried scowl her son had given her a few moments earlier.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I think so," Astrid answered. "I was worried about the baby."

Hiccup kissed her cheek. "The baby will be fine. There's no need to worry, there's no signs that anything is wrong."

"I know," Astrid nodded. "And…"

Astrid tried to think of a way to word what had just happened. Torinth let go of his mother, and walked around her to his father, stretching his arms up. Hiccup released Astrid, and bent down, scooping Torinth in his arms and set him on his hip. He kept one arm wrapped around his son's back to hold him up, and set the other one around Astrid's shoulders. Torinth laid his head on Hiccup's shoulder, and stuck his thumb back in his mouth.

"And what?" Hiccup asked.

"Torinth knew I was worried about the baby," Astrid replied. "I didn't tell him, I don't think I did anything to tip him out. But he came up, asked if I was hurt, and then told me the baby was fine and happy."

Hiccup stared at his son with a surprised expression. Torinth didn't even notice, by now his eyelids were starting to droop, and the sucking on his thumb grew slower and slower.

"How'd you know Mommy was worried?" Hiccup asked as he let go of Astrid and gently pinched Torinth's hand. Torinth sleepily swatted his father's hand away, and then stuck his thumb back in his mouth. Hiccup chuckled softly, and began patting his son's back and bouncing him, setting his chin on top of the little boy's head.

Astrid smiled at the sight. Her father, though he cared about her, was never a very affectionate man, and always put a bunch of pressure on Astrid to be, well, perfect. Seeing Hiccup rocking their three-year-old son back to sleep with such tenderness warmed her heart.

"I read something once," Hiccup said as he continued to rub Torinth's back. "That people who are deaf can see better than other people and can sometimes see things others can't."

Astrid frowned. "So Torinth saw that I was worried?"

"Sort of," Hiccup answered. "Have you noticed whenever Annly or one of the other kids scrape their knees, or gets their feelings hurt Torinth is the first one to go help them?"

Astrid thought for a while, then nodded.

"I think Torinth has some sort of, I guess you call it gift, where he can tell if someone is hurting?"

"I suppose," Hiccup nodded.

"How?" Astrid pondered.

Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe there's some sort of subtle reaction we can see that he can? Maybe it's some kind of intuition? I don't know."

Hiccup glanced at Torinth to check on him, and saw that he was asleep. Hiccup walked over to the bed, lied the boy down, and tucked the blankets around him. He kissed the top of his head, and set the Night Fury toy under the blankets next to him. He then walked over to Annly's bed, and pulled the blankets back just enough to kiss her forehead.

Astrid smiled at her husband as he walked back towards her.

"He was right though," Hiccup told her as he pulled her into a hug. "The baby will be fine."

Astrid smiled at him and nodded. "I know. I just have to remind myself."

"Me too," Hiccup confessed before leaning down and kissing her forehead.


	2. Birth of Jadis Jorgenson

The Birth of Jadis Jorgenson:

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

Hiccup slowly opened one eye to the sound of someone at the door. He groaned in frustration, picked up his pillow and placed it over his head. Even through the three inch layer of feathered stuffing, he could hear a small _creak, creak, creak_ noise. He slowly lifted up the corner of his pillow and saw ten-month-old Annly sitting up in her cradle, rocking it back and forth by clumsily swinging her weight back and forth. She presently lost her balance and tumbled back on her back, tangling herself in her blanket, which she then began to contentedly suck on. In the cradle next to hers, Torinth slept soundly, his thumb still stuck in his mouth.

Hiccup smiled at his babies. He couldn't believe they would be a year old in a few weeks. Two days ago, Annly had stood up for the first time. She only lasted for a second before tumbling over and bumping her head, but she quieted down after a little bit of bouncing. Torinth had even tried to stand up yet, but Hiccup wasn't worried. Torinth was far more laid back than his go-get-'em sister, and was content to keep doing was he was doing. It took quite a lot of coaxing from him and Astrid just to get the boy to crawl, they'd just have to work a little harder with him than Annly to get him to stand and walk, just like crawling.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._ Hiccup groaned. Whoever this was, they weren't going away. He threw the blankets off himself, sat up, and began to attach his prosthetic. The clicking noise of her father's prosthetic caught Annly's attention, and she began to coo and reached out her chubby hands for her Daddy.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Hiccup called.

Annly cooed a bit louder and tried to sit up so she could reach farther towards Hiccup.

Hiccup stood up and walked to his daughter.

"Hey, Baby Doll," Hiccup picked up his little girl and kissed her cheek. "Daddy has to go see who's at the door so you're gonna have to stay here, okay?" Hiccup began to set the little girl back in her cradle, and she began to whimper.

Hiccup sighed and stood back up, holding his little girl to his chest, patting her back. "I know, I know, but Daddy has work to do."

"Let me have her," came a groggy voice from behind him. Hiccup turned around and saw Astrid sitting up in the bed, and reaching her arms out for the baby girl. Hiccup passed their daughter on to his wife, and she cradled the girl in her arms.

"There's my little Shield Maiden," Astrid smiled at the little girl.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," Hiccup said as he put on the fur cape he wore as chief.

"Alright, go take care of Berk and kick some butt," Astrid answered.

"Love you," Hiccup gave Astrid a quick kiss, then he walked over to the cradle where his son was still asleep and kissed the top of his head before heading downstairs. He opened the front door and found Gobber standing outside.

"Morning, Gobber. What's going on?"

"Jorgensons," Gobber answered.

Hiccup sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What now?"

"Eleetha's gone."

Hiccup picked his head up with surprise. "What?"

"Eleetha's gone."

Hiccup stepped out of the house and closed the door behind him.

"What do you mean gone?" he asked as they began to walk towards the Jorgenson house, Hiccup snapping for Toothless to follow from where he had been perched on the roof.

"She's gone, and so are her dragon and belongings," Gobber explained. "Snotlout woke up this morning and her side of the bed was empty."

Hiccup put a hand to his forehead. "Wow. She really did it," Hiccup sighed. "She took off."

"I told Spitelout that woman was no good, but no, he had to marry Snotlout off to a girl from a rich family, even if it was a rich family from another tribe who have a bad reputation. That man couldn't-"

Hiccup stopped listening to Gobber's as something else pressed on his mind.

"What about the baby?"

"She gave birth last night," Gobber answered.

"She did?"

"Yup. A healthy baby girl. I suppose that's why she split, didn't want the responsibility of raising a child."

Hiccup shook his head in amazement. He'd never liked Eleetha, and always thought of her as a bit of a gold digger who was only interested in Snotlout because of the glamour of the title "dragon rider." But this? This was a new low.

They grew closer to the Jorgenson house, and Hiccup made his way into the house. He was met to the sight of his old comrade sitting in a chair with his head slumped over as Spitelout hovered over him, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"You embarrassment, you! Couldn't keep your wife in line, after I hand picked her for you from a family that was known for their submissive women. Can't even do that right! Shameful! Shameful!"

Hiccup winced at the words for Snotlout, who couldn't take his eyes off the floor to face his father, or notice the chief's entrance.

"And to top it off, you couldn't even get a son out of her before you let her walk out! All you got was a girl!"

A twinge of anger shot through Hiccup, and he cleared his throat to catch Spitelout's attention.

Spitelout looked up, and rolled his eyes. "About time you got here, lad."

"That's Chief lad to you, Spitelout," Gobber corrected.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at Gobber's attempt to defend his honor while Toothless plodded up to his rider's side and plopped down next to him.

"Gobber gave me a brief summary of what happened, but could the two of you further explain."

"All I know is that this morning my pathetic excuse of a son comes in to inform me that he let his wife slip out, and take the dragon we gave her and all her junk with her," Spitelout sighed, exasperated.

Hiccup bit his tongue from lashing out at the infuriating older Viking, and instead continued his explanation. "I understand that the baby was born last night, about how long ago was that?"

Spitelout shrugged. "Eight hours, I suppose. Wouldn't you say, Snotlout?"

Snotlout just stared at the floor.

"Snotlout?" Hiccup asked.

"Closer to nine," the downcast Viking finally answered. "Nine hours."

"What happened after the baby was born, were there any visitors?"

"I dunno," Spitelout answered. "Once I learned it was a girl, I decided to go for a few pints of mead at the Great Hall and wish for better luck next time. Doesn't look like there'll be a next time, now, howev-"

"I wasn't asking you," Hiccup said through gritted teeth. He turned back to Snotlout, who was still sitting with his face downcast, no change. Hiccup wondered how he had stayed so still while Spitelout showed such contempt towards his child for being a girl.

If Spitelout had made such comments about Annly…

Hiccup tightened his hands into fists at the thought.

"No," Snotlout answered. "No visitors. About an hour after she was born we all fell asleep. I woke up a few minutes ago and Eleetha was gone."

From upstairs, the soft sound of a newborn baby crying emerged. Hiccup ran his hands over his face as he tried to think.

"That gives her eight hours tops," he groaned. "She could nearly be out of the archipelago by now."

The baby's cries grew steadily louder.

Gobber, go wake up the other riders and tell the to saddle up. We'll have to leave right now if we're going to have any chance of catching up to her."

The baby's cries were now screams. Spitelout covered his ears in disgust.

"I'm going to have to listen to this from now on, aren't I?"

"Spitelout, you're daughter-in-law just abandoned your son and granddaughter," Hiccup finally turned on the older Viking. "You complaining won't make this any easier on either of them, go with Gobber to wake the other riders and make yourself useful."

Spitelout glared daggers at Hiccup, but did as he was told.

Alone in the living room with Snoutlout, Hiccup took a moment to take in his old comrade. He'd never seen Snotlout look more defeated in his life. The sounds of the baby screaming upstairs only dampened the mood even further. After a few moments of motionlessness, however, Hiccup grew concerned. Why wasn't Snotlout doing anything? Shock, perhaps?

"Snotlout?"

"Hm?"

"Aren't you going to go take care of your baby?"

Snotlout suddenly went from defeated to terrified. "My baby? Oh, Thor! I don't know a thing about babies! And I'm supposed to take care of one? I can't go up there! She's crying! And-" Snotlout's face softened to a look of sadness. "She's crying…" He slowly stood up and began to walk to the stairs, then stopped, and collapsed to the floor in a panic again. "But I don't know how to stop a baby from crying. I don't-"

"Hey, it's okay," Hiccup said as he knelt to his comrade's level and set a hand on his shoulder. "I didn't have a clue what to do with babies with Annly and Torinth were born, but Astrid and I have figured it out."

"Yeah, but you're Hiccup and Astrid!" Snotlout wailed. "You two always figure stuff out. Nothing ever gets in your way. Everything gets in my way!"

"Snotlout, calm down," Hiccup instructed. "You can do this. People raise children all the time."

"And people suck at it everyday too."

"Snotlout," Hiccup sighed as he put a hand to his forehead. "Just, come one. Let's just go get your kid."

"No, I can't go up there!" Snotlout shook his head.

"Why not?"

"Because I'll screw it up."

"No you won't."

"You don't know that!"

"All you're going to do is rock your baby."

"Yeah, my baby who's mom just ran out on me because I couldn't be the husband she wanted."

Hiccup sighed. "Snotlout, this isn't your fault. Eleetha said I do to you just like you did her, she has a much of a responsibility to you and your daughter as you do. She's the one who's failed, not you."

Snotlout shook his head. "It's not that simple. You know that."

Hiccup bit his lip and nodded. "You're right. It's not. But that still doesn't excuse her for running out like this."

Snotlout hung his head. "I know she didn't want me. I wouldn't want me. But why did she leave our…"

Hiccup set a hand on his friend's shoulder as the baby's screams reached a piercing pitch. "I don't know why she left your baby. But she did, which means you have to step up. You can't leave too."

Snotlout sniffed in disgust. "Leave? I've got nowhere to go."

"Yeah you do," Hiccup answered. "Upstairs to your daughter."

Snotlout shook his head. "I can't face like this."

"Oh, for the love of Thor, she's a newborn! She doesn't know what's going on, she just wants her Daddy to hold her."

Snotlout drew his knees to his chest. "I can't. I've screwed too much up as is."

"You don't do this for her, you'll be screwing up even more."

Snotlout shook his head. "You do it, Hiccup."

"Snotlout, I can't be your child's father for you," Hiccup yelled. "This is your job."

"Then be her chief," Snotlout retorted as he stood up. "And take care of her while I'm gone." He began to walk to the door.

"Where the heck are you going?!" Hiccup all but screamed.

"I'm going to find my daughter's mother, and bring her back!"

"Snotlout, that's not where you're needed. Let the other riders look for Eleetha, you take care of your daughter."

"Take care of her?" Snotlout asked. "After I've just disgraced her entire family, and chased her mother off? No. I have to fix this."

"Snotlout you can't fix this. This is out of your control. Even if you find Eleetha, what will you do? She won't agree to come back, so you'll have to drag her back. And that will just prove she ran off. She'll be tried for abandonment and thrown in prison. Your child's never going to know her mother either way."

"Yeah, well, at least I'll have my honor, and my family will too."

"Wha-wha-what!? Honor!? That's what you're worried about?"

"Yes, because I don't want my daughter to grow up in a shamed household with a shamed father."

"Snotlout, you're over-exaggerating things-"

"Am I, Hiccup?" Snotlout challenged, and with that he stormed out of the house. Hiccup collapsed on the steps and buried his face in his hands. Toothless plodded over to his rider and nudged him, warbling sympathetically. Hiccup reached out a hand and petted his head.

"What a mess, bud," he gasped in exasperation. Toothless laid his head in Hiccup's lap, and whimpered. Hiccup buried his face in the top of Toothless' head. The creaking of the door opening caught Hiccup's attention, and he peaked up. Snotlout meekly poked his head in.

"It's Jadis, by the way," he whispered. "Her name's Jadis." And with that he closed the door back, and was gone.

Hiccup sighed and stood up. He mounted the steps and entered Snotlout and Eleetha's bedroom. He quietly approached the cradle sitting next to the master bed and picked up the tiny bundle thrashing and screaming inside. He cradled the wailing baby girl to his chest and began the gently rock her back and forth.

"There, there, Jadis," he whispered as she continued to sob. "I know. I know I'm not who you want. But your Daddy will be back soon. There. Sh, sh, sh."

He loosened the blankets around the newborn a little bit to allow her to stretch and smoothed the thick, black hair on the top of her head, hoping to calm her. Jadis eventually quieted down a bit, her screaming diminishing to small whimpers. She stared up at him with giant grey eyes, imploring him to show her what was going on. Why her mother and father, the only two voices she'd ever known were suddenly gone, and why he was the one who was now comforting her.

Hiccup felt his heart ache for the little girl in his arms. What chance did this poor child have? Snotlout would spend the rest of his days obsessing over how Eleetha had left him. For even though Hiccup wouldn't say it, , he'd trained Eleetha on dragon riding when she'd first arrived at Berk. He'd seen how she was a born natural, and how well she knew her dragon. They would never find her.

Yes, he'd ordered the search out of some small hope that maybe, by some miracle, they could catch up to her or figure out where she was going. But she was too smart, too talented, and had an eight-hour head start. She was long gone.

This child had no mother. She barely had a father. And Spitelout…

"I'm sorry," Hiccup whispered. "I'm so sorry you had to be born into this."

Jadis softly wept for her parents and Hiccup held her closer.

"You deserve better than this," Hiccup told her. "I wish I could fix this for you, but I can't. I might be the chief, but I'm only human. But I promise you this, I will do everything in my power to care for. I can't be your father. But I can be your chief. And I can be your friend. Odin knows you're gonna need one."

Hiccup placed a small kiss on Jadis' forehead, and then picked another blanket out of her cradle to wrap around her for the walk back to his house.

Snotlout hung his head as the stars danced in the sky over Berk. Nothing. He and the other riders (minus Astrid and Valka who had stayed home with the babies) had searched all day and found no trace of Eleetha. Hookfang landed in front of his house. He dismounted and began to walk towards the door, but felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Ah, ah, ah."

He turned and saw Hiccup standing behind him.

"Come with me," the chief ordered. Snotlout unenthusiastically obeyed and followed Hiccup back to his house. Hiccup opened the door for him and ushered Snotlout inside. Valka sat in the living room floor with Torinth in her lap, sucking his thumb as his grandmother held his sister's hands and helped her stand up. Behind them, stood Astrid who was rocking Jadis as she paced back and forth. At hearing the door open, both women looked up, and fell sullen at the sight of Snotlout.

"Snotlout," Valka greeted politely as she helped Annly sit back down.

"'Bout time you showed up, muttonhead!" Astrid called venomously as she walked towards him.

Hiccup entered the house and closed the door behind them. Snotlout took a step back, not sure what to expect.

"Snotlout, I know this has been incredibly hard on you," Hiccup started. "No one should have to go through this. You will need help getting through this, whether you like it or not, and we're here for you."

Snotlout smiled in appreciation and opened his mouth to explain, while he really didn't need any help, he was thankful for the offer, but he was cut off by Hiccup.

"That being said, this stunt you pulled today, running off to save your honor and leaving your newborn daughter by herself in distress is outrageous."

Snotlout huffed a sigh. He should have known there'd be more to this.

"Snotlout, you're a father now," Hiccup continued. "You can't just run off on some quest or mission to boost your ego or status anymore. You have to take care of your daughter, and in order to do that, you have to be there for her. Not in spirit. Not in word. In person. As unfair as it is, you're the only parent Jadis has, she needs you."

"Hiccup, I get that," Snotlout sighed. "And I will be there. But If Jadis is going to have any chance of survival, I need to fix this mess."

"No. N-no," Hiccup stuttered frustratedly. "There's no fixing this problem. This isn't one of those things you can punch in the face and make go away. The only way you are going to make this better is by being there for your daughter."

"You don't know that," Snotlout challenged. "I might be able to patch this whole thing up. I'll finally make my dad proud of me, and if he's proud of me, he'll be proud of Jadis."

"Your father?" Hiccup yelled. "That's what you're worried about?"

"Just let me handle this, Hiccup, on my own."

"That's the problem, Snotlout," Astrid joined in. "You're not on your own anymore. You have Jadis now. You are never going to be on your own ever again. She needs you, and she needs you here. If you don't start being here for her now, you won't farther down the road, and she's going to grow up alone and thinking that her father doesn't love her."

"Of course I love her-"

"Then prove it! Stand strong for her!"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Valka slowly stood up and walked towards the younger man.

"Do it for yourself too, lad," she gently encouraged. "If you fail to be a part of your child's life because you are too busy doing something else, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I should know," Valka hung her head, and Hiccup turned away to hide the fact that his eyes had grown misty.

Valka set a gentle hand on Snotlout's shoulder. "Do us all a favor. Don't make the same mistake I did."

"I…" Snoutlout sighed. "I just…you guys don't understand…"

"Can you at least hold her?" Astrid all but hissed.

Snotlout flinched at her words, but cautiously held his arms out. Astrid set the tiny girl into them, and helped him position his hands so that they supported her head and back. Snotlout stared down at the little girl and a faint smile spread over his face.

"There's my warrior girl," he cooed softly as Jadis stared at him with grey eyes that mirrored his own. She reached out a hand and tapped his nose with her finger tips.

"Already learning how to narrow in on a target, aren't you? You'll be the pride of Berk yet," he grinned.

Hiccup, Astrid, and Valka all smiled while Snotlout continued to talk to his daughter as he headed to the door to go home. He stopped when he was one foot out, and turned back to the three adults a conflicted look on his face.

"Thanks," he started. "I'll…I'll drop her back off tomorrow so I can look for Eleetha."

A disappointed and pained groan escaped the Haddocks.

"I'm sorry, but I have to try. If I can't fix this by finding her, I have to fix it another way. I'm sorry."

And with that he closed the door.

Hiccup let out a sad chuckle. "He never was good at listening."

Astrid set an arm around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder. Hiccup set his arm around her shoulder and held her close.

"That poor little girl," Astrid sighed. "Barely a day old, and she already has an uphill climb."

Hiccup ran a hand over his face. "I can't imagine what he's going through. But still, you can't just leave your kid…you just can't…"

Hiccup walked to the doorway and held out his hand to open the door to go after Snotlout, but stopped. It was no use. He leaned his elbow on the doorframe and rubbed his chin. Astrid just watched him.

Still seated on the floor, blissfully unaware of the chaos that had just ensued, Annly began to babble contentedly to herself as she shook a wooden rattle in the air.

Hiccup turned to her and Torinth, who sat next to her, sucking his thumb and tapping his hand on a wooden ball. He tapped it too hard, causing it to roll away, so he removed his thumb from his mouth and began to crawl after it. A soft smile spread over Hiccup's face and he walked over to his two children.

"How are my miracles tonight?" He asked as he scooped Annly into his arms and set her on his hips. Hen then scooped up Torinth with his other arm, and set him on his other hip. Annly began her babbling again as Hiccup walked over to the couch and sat down.

"That a fact?" he asked the baby girl as he set her on one leg and her brother on the other. Annly held the rattle out to him, which he gently took and began rattling for her, to which she grinned and clapped her hands. Torinth watched with big, curious eyes, gently reaching for the rattle himself. Hiccup let him take it, rather than shake it, though, Torinth just ran a tiny figured over the patter carved into the side, relishing in the feeling of the bumps.

Astrid watched on and smiled. Hiccup had always been an amazing father, from the first moment the twins had come into their lives that shocking night on Dragon's Edge. But given the events of that night, she appreciated him even more. She sat down next to him as he let Annly curl up against his chest, listening to his heart beat, one of his arms forming a protective circle around her. Torinth was still examining the rattle with great interest, and Hiccup smiled at his son's inquisitiveness. Astrid ran a gentle finger across the back of Annly's head, and leaned her head on Hiccup's shoulder.

"I love you," she whispered. "I don't think I tell you that enough."

Hiccup turned to her and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you too. More than I can ever say."

Astrid stared up at him, awe in her eyes. Hiccup smiled curiously at her. "What?"

"You're an amazing father," Astrid answered.

Hiccup shrugged. "I try."

"I'm serious," Astrid set a hand under his chin and turned his face towards her. "You are. Our children are the luckiest kids alive because they have you."

Hiccup shook his head. "No." He reached over Annly's sleepy form to brush Astrid bangs' out of her face. "They're lucky because they have you."

Valka suddenly walked over to the small family and scooped the two babies into her arms.

"I'm going to put these young ones, I have a feeling you two need to talk."

She disappeared upstairs. Hiccup and Astrid stared at each other for a while, then Hiccup leaned in and pressed his lips against Astrid's. Astrid returned the gesture, and wrapped he arms around his neck. Hiccup slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her tight against him. After a few moments, they parted, only for Hiccup to dive back in with much more vigor and passion than before. So much so, that Astrid let out a small squeak of surprise. His hands ran through her hair, and he held her even closer against him, almost as if her were afraid to let go. He eventually did have to release her for air, though.

"What was that for?" Astrid asked, amazed.

"I love you," Hiccup answered. "And I'm so thankful that I have you. You are an amazing wife and mother and I can't imagine what my life would be like if you just disappeared."

Astrid smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. "Well, you don't have to worry about that, because I'm not going anywhere."

"I know you're not," Hiccup replied. "And I'm glad I can rest easy at night knowing that."

Astrid smiled sympathetically at him again, and gave him a small peck on the lips. "Same here.


	3. Viddi Vastia Haddock

Viddi Vastia Haddock:

Valka hummed lowly in her throat as she rocked the sleeping twins on her lap. The only sounds other than her humming was Torinth sucking his thumb in his sleep, and Astrid muffled cries from the master bedroom. Valka worried a bit, of course, childbirth was always risky business, but Astrid was a strong woman who had already successfully delivered surprise twins. No doubt baby #3 would be fine.

Valka looked down at the sleeping toddlers and smiled. She knew she could put them to bed if she wanted, but she liked holding them. She had never gotten to be with Hiccup when he was their ages, and she knew they wouldn't stay this small forever. Of course she could look forward to baby #3's toddler days, but it wouldn't be Torinth or Annly.

She hummed her song again and placed a small kiss on both of the children's heads. Enjoying this quiet moment she got to have with her grandchildren.

Annly sighed in her sleep and mumbled; "I wanna pink and purple Toofwess baby.."

Valka chuckled as she nuzzled her nose into the three-year-old's hair.

"Oh, you silly wee lass," she grinned. Presently she heard a creaking at the door and turned to see Hiccup poking his head in.

"Mom?" he asked in a whisper. "Can I talk to you?"

Valka stood up and tucked her two grandchildren into bed. As she went about tucking the blankets around the toddlers she realized that Astrid's cries had stopped. Excitement boiled inside her as she made her way out into the hall where her son waited for her.

Once outside, though, she began to grow concerned. Hiccup's eyes were puffy, and his cheeks were red from crying. Valka quickly took her son's shoulders into her hands.

"Hiccup? What's wrong? Is the baby alright?"

"The baby's fine," Hiccup answered, then welled up in pride as he announced. "It's a girl."

Valka let out a small sigh of relief, before fear crept up in her again. "And Astrid?"

"Also fine, she did amazing."

"Then why are you crying?" Valka knitted her brow in confusion.

Hiccup gave a small, sad smile. "Well, it's the baby-"

"I thought you said she was alright."

"She is. But she, well," Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck before continuing. "She has red hair, and green eyes like…Mom, she looks like Dad."

Valka gasped, and clapped a hand to her mouth. "Oh," she sighed. "Can I see her?"

Hiccup nodded and led his mother into the master bedroom. He quietly opened the door and entered in. Valka cautiously followed him. Astrid lay propped against a pile of pillows, her hair spread out around her, drenched with sweat. Her eyes droopy with exhaustion, but filled with pride as she gazed down at the bundle in her arms.

Hiccup walked over to her and whispered something into her ear. Astrid nodded and let him take the baby from her arms. Hiccup slowly walked back to his mother, whispering something to the tiny child in his arms.

"Mom," he said as he reached her. "I want you to meet your new granddaughter."

Valka eagerly took the baby from her son and cradled her to her chest. A think mass of curly red hair covered her head, as she squinted her round nose. Her eyes were closed, but Valka could still see the resemblance to her late beloved. Even in the size, which was odd to say for a newborn, but she had the largest birth weight of a Haddock in two generations by far. Granted that was only two other births, one being premature, and the other being twins, but still.

"Oh," she gasped again as she began to rock the little girl back and forth. "Look at you, you darling, wee thing. Well, not so 'wee.' You're about the size of your brother, sister, and father combined at birth. No wonder it took your mother so long to bring you into this world."

Astrid let out an exhausted chuckled from where she lay, her eyes already closed as she welcomed sleep to overtake her.

The baby cooed, eliciting another cry of pride from her grandmother. "Oh, yes my dear! Oh, you're beautiful."

She turned to Hiccup, who was watching on with pride in his eyes. "What's her name?"

"Viddi," Hiccup answered. "Viddi Vastia Haddock."

"Vastia?" Valka raised an eyebrow curiously at the unusual middle name.

"Hiccup's idea," Astrid mumbled from the bed. "An after giving birth to our not-so-little bundle of joy, I was too exhausted to argue."

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, um, Stoick's alredy been used for Torinth's middle name, and even if it wasn't, it's a boy's name. So, I decided we could use a spin on his title "the Vast" for the middle name since she looks so much like him."

Valka smiled. "He'd give you a hard time about it, but he'd be thrilled to have two of your children named for him." Viddi cooed again, opening her eyes that were the same shade of green as her father and grandfather. Valka beamed at her.

"Yes, he'd be very thrilled, my darling Viddi."

Hiccup smiled again at his mother and daughter, then gently made his way to the bed and sat down next to Astrid, planting a small kiss to her forehead. She grinned sleepily, but didn't move or open her eyes. Hiccup whispered sweetly in her ear, earning a wider grin from her, and making her turn her head towards him. Hiccup bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.

Valka ignored them, still entranced by the newest addition to the Haddock household, who was starting to drift off to sleep. Valka let a sad smile spread across her face.

"You do look like him, my not-so-wee darling. If only he could see you."

 **AN: If any of you are wondering Viddi weighs about 8 ½ to 9 pounds at birth. So yeah, she's a big chubby baby. But still adorable!**


	4. Mommy's Little Protectors

Mommy's Little Protectors:

This was Astrid's least favorite part of motherhood: being confined to bed rest for a week after birth. Of course she knew why it had to be this way, you needed time to heal following a birth, especially after giving birth to a baby as big as Viddi. But just because she understood the purpose of something didn't mean she liked it. Today, though, she had some visitors. Valka had to go run some errands, so the twins had been left in the master bedroom with their supposed-to-be-resting mother. Not that Astrid cared. She needed a change of scenery. Plus, as occupied as she would with caring for the newest addition, she missed her two older miracles.

Annly and Torinth were playing on Hiccup's side of the bed (that was currently unoccupied because he was out doing his chiefing business), creating some elaborate war between the wooden figures and the stuffed animals. Or rather, Annly was creating a war between the wooden figures and stuffed animals. Torinth was too fascinated by the squirming little thing feeding in his mother's arms. He'd reach out every now and then and poke the blankets covering his new sister, as if to see if she'd jump out at him or something.

Annly, it seemed, had already gotten used to the baby. She'd been overjoyed the entire first day after Viddi's birth, running all about the village proclaiming "I's got a new sister! Here name is Viddi!" But that was three days ago, now the baby was just a part of everyday life for her, tip of the hat really. She ahrdly paid mind to the fussy infant laid over her mother's shoulder to burp as she knocked a stuffed yak off the bed with a wooden Nadder.

"You didn't t'ink fast enough, Ravi," she shook her head in disgust at the shamed stuffed toy as she hopped off the bed to fetch it.

Astrid laughed at her daughter's antics as she through "Ravi" back onto the covers and hopped back up after it.

"Now," she told the yak. "Watch Uma," she picked up a stuffed seagull and held it in the air. "She know w'at up."

Astrid laughed again. "You're a mess, child."

"No," Annly frowned. "I c'ean. I take a bat' 'is mawning!"

Astrid laughed again. "I know, you're just silly."

Annly huffed a sigh. "'at's Daddy's fault too, huh?"

Astrid about busted a gut as she , bent over to place Viddi in her crib. "Yes, it's Daddy's fault," she answered as she snatched the little girl into her lap, causing her to squeal.

"Because you're too smart for your own good," Astrid ruffled the little girl's hair as she spoke, and sighed. "Too smart." Annly wiggled out of her mother's grip and smoothed her hair back out, and indignant scowl on her face. "Just like your father."

Torinth watched on with a calm, indifferent look on his face. A look his father had often worn during their younger, riding days whenever the older twins would cause self-harm or shenanigans to each other. Come to think of it, Hiccup still wore that face around Ruffnut and Tuffnut. And so did Torinth.

Astrid smiled at him, and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and looked at her, and she signed "you're too smart for your own good, too."

Torinth paused for a moment, then signed back one word.

"Okay."

Astrid chuckled and poked him in the belly, causing him to recoil in smiles.

"Oh, no, Uma gots the mads!" Annly cried as she began to violently beat the seagull against the bed. She stopped abruptly, and handed to wooden Vikings to Torinth.

"'Old dese," she instructed.

Torinth stared down at the two toys in his hands, looked at the pile of toys on the bed, then tossed the pair of Vikings into his mother's lap and picked up his favorite toy Night Fury and hugged it to his chest.

"Uma and Ravi gonna fall into the sea!" Annly screamed. "Asher's gots to save 'dem!" She picked up a stuffed Nightmare and began running around the room, making dragon calls as she did so. Torinth watched her for only a few seconds, then began to throw his Night Fury into the air and catch it repeatedly.

Annly squealed and somersaulted back onto the bed, right into Torinth, knocking him backwards.

"Annly, be careful!" Astrdi scolded as she reached for her son. "Torinth, are you okay?" she asked, forgetting for a moment in her motherly panic that her son couldn't hear.

Torinth sat back up and Annly leaned towards him in concern. "Torint'?"

Torinth looked at his sister in disgust, then stuck out his tongue and blew raspberries at her. Annly recoiled and wiped her face. "Ew! Torint'! 'At nasty!"

She scowled at him. He scowled back, and blew raspberries again.

Annly tackled him, and he retaliated. Astrid reached over and broke the twins apart.

"Alright, you two. Enough!"

As this was going about, a creaking came from the door. Astrid turned, expecting to see Hiccup, or Valka, but was shocked to find…

"Spitelout?"

"G'day, Astrid, I was just coming by to see how you and the new baby were doing."

Astrid clutched the blankets up to her chest, as she was wearing nothing but a very loose night gown to make nursing Viddi easier. The twins, seeming to catch onto their mother's distress, stopped their quarrelling and turn all their attention to the big man in the room.

"We're both fine," Astrid replied in a polite, but obviously irritated tone. "Thank you."

Spitelout nodded, a smug smile, that made Astrid very uncomfortable, on his face as he walked towards the cradle. Astrid scooted closer to the edge of the bed, closer to her baby as Spitelout leaned over and looked down at her.

"My, my, healthy specimen, isn't she?"

"Yes," Astrid replied, unsure where this was going. "She a very healthy baby. Hiccup and I are blessed."

"That ye are," Spitelout agreed. "It would seem you're very good at delivering healthy babies. 'Cept for that one," Spitelout pointed at Torinth. "But that wasn't yer fault, you got attacked whiel with child. Coulda happened to anyone."

"Excuse me!" Astrid dropped the blanket as she set her hands on her hips. How dare he say such things about her son? And right in front of him!

"Is he saying mean t'ings about Torint', Mommy?" Annly asked as she crawled closer to the action.

"Yes," Astrid answered through gritted teeth.

"Don' say mean t'ings 'bout my bwot'er!" Annly shouted as she jumped to her feet and crossed her arms. "Only I's can do t'at, 'cuz I's don' really mean it!"

"Oh my, touched a nerve did I?" Spitelout asked as he took a step back. "Alright, alright, my apologies. I didn't mean to upset anyone."

Astrid all but growled at him as Torinth, seeming to guess that he was being talked about, curled up in her lap, and she locked her arms around him.

"Besides, I only meant to complement you on your healthy strong brood, and to offer you a proposal."

Astrid's eyes narrowed. She didn't like where this was going. "What do you mean?"

"Well, as you know, my son's wife has been missing for three years now, and he still has no sons, just one measly daughter-"

"Jadis seems like a very strong and healthy child to me."

"Yes, but she's small," Spitelout rolled his eyes. "Moving on. Since we need a boy to carry on the Jorgenson name, and Eleetha's nowhere to be found, I was wondering if you would mind…erm..shal wee say, assisting in our dilemma. Snotlout's always fancied you, anyways, and it-"

"How dare you!?" Astrid thundered. "How dare you even suggest that I cheat on my husband just so you can get a grandson. And after I've just given birth to Hiccup's child no less. Third child, I might add!"

"Oh, come on," Spitelout groaned. "It would only be one time. You're obviously fertile, you can give Hiccup, oh, I don't know…six more babies to make up for it."

"You really think that's gonna work?" Astrid was fuming. "You really think this is how the world works? To revolve around you and your every whim?"

"Look, it's a-"

"Get out!"

"Now, listen-"

 **"** **Get out!"**

"Now-"

"Hey," Annly jumped in front of her mother, crushing on of her mother's toes in the process, and faced the huge man down. "You make Mommy mad! And Mommy tell you to go, so go!"

Spitelout glared at the child. "You really think you can tell me what to do, little girl?"

"Uh-huh. I live here and you don't!" Annly crossed her arms with total confidence. Spitelout was taken aback by the girls' logic, but soon recovered.

"Now listen here, little girl-"

"I not little," Annly insisted. "I dwink milk!"

Spitelout had to take a moment to process the comeback again. He opened his mouth to say something, but Annly cut him off.

"You need to dwink more milk, instead of that funny smelling stuff that make you act silly."

Spitelout was absolutely dumbfounded for a moment.

"Now…now you listen here, you little brat, you-"

Annly turned her back to Spitelout to turn to her brother.

"Torint', I can use help here!"

Torinth stood up and walked to his sister's side, a scowl on his face.

"Oh, now what?" Spitelout rolled his eyes. "Are you going to grunt me away?"

"Hey!" Astrid shouted, but the man and two toddlers ignored her.

Torinth scowled at Spitelout a while longer, then tossed one of the wooden Vikings he'd left in Astrid's lap earlier right at Spitelout's head. Spitelout grabbed his forehead as he shouted in pain and stumbled backwards.

"Ow! What in the name of-" the other Viking hit him in the nose. "Oh!"

The two twins chuckled at the older man's pain. At that moment, the door opened and a very concerned looking Hiccup stepped in.

"What on earth is going on?" he asked, before practically jumping out of skin at the sight of the old Viking rolling on the floor, clutching a bloody nose. "Spitelout? Kids, Astrid, what is-"

"He say mean t'ings about Torint', and then say t'ings at make Mommy mad," Annly explained as she pointed to Spitelout. "So I tell him to leave, and Torinth threw toys at him."

"That so?" Hiccup asked in a disapproving voice as he turned to the older Viking.

"Let me explain, lad-"

"Yeah, go ahead," Astrid crossed her arms in amusement. "Go on explain how you came in here proposing that I go lie down and have a child with Spitelout so you can get a grandson to carry on your ever-so-glorious name behind my husband's back. I'd love to see you pin that in a reasonable light."

"You what?!" Hiccup was practically fuming.

"Now let me explain, lad."

Hiccup crossed his arms, waiting for the explanation, just so he'd have all the more reason to sock Spitelout in the face.

"It would only be one time, and-"

"Yup, heard enough," Hiccup announced as he grabbed the older man by the arm and slung him out of the room, following after him, shouting: "Get out of my house!"

The ruckus and groaning downstairs indicated that Hiccup was giving Spitelout more than just a piece of his mind as he led, or forced, him out of the house. He returned upstairs and into the bedroom.

"The nerve!" he fumed as he sat down on the bed and took Astrid's face in his hands, going from angry to concerned in an instant. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Astrid smiled and shook her head. Hiccup placed a tender, but prolonged kiss her forehead, before leaving a shorter, but still as soft, kiss to her lips.

"Ew!" Annly cried as she and her brother covered their faces in disgust.

The couple turned to their children and Astrid pulled them into her lap. "I had a couple of Viking warriors protecting me."

"Oh, did you now?" Hiccup asked as he beamed at his two children. The twins nodded enthusiastically.

"We kick his butt!" Annly cheered.

"That you did, my little shield maiden," Hiccup agreed as he rubbed his nose against his daughter's. "And you," Hiccup set a hand on Torinth's head, before signing "Good job Warrior" with the other.

Torinth thought a while, then singed back a single word.

"Okay."


	5. A Pull Out Bed

A Pull Out Bed

"Wah! Wah! Wah!"

Hiccup groaned as he rubbed the grogginess out of his eyes. After making it through twins, he would have thought caring for a single newborn would have been easy, but Viddi was already proving to be quite the handful at only three weeks. He reached into the cradle at the foot of the bed and pulled the screaming infant into his arms.

"What's the matter this time, baby girl?" he asked. Viddi continued to scream, swatting at the air with her fists. It didn't sound like she was hungry, and Astrid had fed her less than an hour ago, so she should still be satisfied. Hiccup set the baby down in his lap and undid the blanket cocooning her to check her diaper. It was wet, but nothing else.

"What's she crying about n-" Astrid mumbled as she began to stir. Hiccup set is hand on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up.

"I've got it, go back to sleep."

Astrid gladly obliged as Hiccup strapped on his prosthetic leg, (which he could now do one-handed thanks to fatherhood), carried his daughter to the changing table, and replaced the problem garment.

He wrap her back up. Though it was mid-spring, it was still Berk, and the nights were still cold, as evident by Viddi's shivering and whimpering.

"You're alright," Hiccup assured the fussy child as he scooped her back into his arms, and cradled her to his warm, beating chest.

"There, all better." He kissed her forehead. Viddi still fussed. Hiccup sighed. There was nothing else wrong so she probably just wanted attention, which he would have been happy to give at any time, but the middle of the night. None-the-less, he was her father, so he placed a small kiss on her forehead, and headed out of his bedroom.

He rocked Viddi back and forth gently as he walked down the hall, peeking into the twins' room. They were both sound asleep in their beds, Annly in her usual disheveled mess, and Torinth curled up into his little ball. Viddi stopped her fussing and began to turn her head, looking about the room.

"Oh, recognize this room already, don't you?" Hiccup asked as he took a few quiet steps in so as not to disturb his older children. "You know this is brother and sister's room, huh?" Viddi beat her hands against the air, and began to squirm her legs around in her blanket. As she searched for her older siblings.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hiccup asked as he set one hand on her belly. He scrunched his fingers ever so slightly, earning a grin and what might have been the beginning of a laugh from Viddi. "Are you already trying to crawl off." Viddi grinned again and began trying to latch onto her father's fingers. Hiccup helped her out, and she began to latch her mouth around his fingertips. Hiccup smiled at the baby, then turned and checked at the toddlers one more time. Satisfied that they were still asleep and well, Hiccup quietly closed the door behind him and began down the steps.

Toothless and Stormfly both slept on stone slabs in the living room, their breaths humming softly in the air. Toothless opened one eye at the sound of Hiccup's metal leg clinking on the stairs, the rolled back over into sleep. A few stray embers of the fire glowed in the dark as Hiccup began to pace back and forth across the living room bouncing his little girl in his arms. Viddi squirmed in his embrace, growing restless once again.

"Now, what's that for?" Hiccup asked as Viddi began crying again. "Oh, goodness." Hiccup set her against his shoulder and began patting her back. "Viddi, Viddi, Viddi. You are absolutely precious but you're a mess." Viddi grunted as if in response. Hiccup chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose. He swayed his upper body from side to side and began to sing softly to her in a surprisingly sweet and clear voice.

 _"_ _I have a dream_

 _You are there_

 _High above the clouds somewhere_

 _Rain is falling from the sky_

 _But it never touches you_

 _You're way up high_

 _No more worries_

 _No more fears_

 _You have made them disappear_

 _Sadness tried to steal the show_

 _But now it feels like many years ago…"_

A clattering noise came from behind Hiccup, shocking him and Viddi, causing the little girl to shriek in fear. Hiccup clutched Viddi closer to him as he moved to investigate. The rack holding the fireplace tools had been knocked over, but how he couldn't tell. A scampering noise came from further down the hall. Tucking his daughter into the crook of his arm, and grabbing a sword from off the wall with his other hand.

"No! Pwease don't cut me Mr. Chief, sir!" A small voice cried from behind the couch. Hiccup jumped and turned around to find Jadis peeking out from behind the arm of the couch.

"Jadis!" Hiccup sighed as he put the sword back on the wall. "Don't sneak up on me like that, I could have seriously hurt you."

Jadis hung her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Chief."

Viddi was still crying, Hiccup rocked the baby back and forth, rubbing her back.

"Sh, sh, sh, sh," he whispered. "It's alright, it's just Jadis, she doesn't bite."

Hiccup gave Jadis a small grin, and he won a small grin back. Viddi stopped crying but still squirmed uneasily.

"What are you doing here, Jadis?" Hiccup asked as he sat down on the couch, patting Jadis to sit down next to her as he bounced Viddi on his leg. Jadis hung her head in shame as she shuffled closer to Hiccup.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chief, I didn't want to scare you or your baby."

"It's okay," Hiccup assured her as he patted the couch next to him. Jadis crawled up next to him. She kept her head down, and held her folded hands in her lap.

"Why are you here, Jadis? It's the middle of the night. Shouldn't you be with your daddy?"

"Daddy and Grampa were fighting. They always fight when drink the funny smelling stuff, and they get loud. So I sleep over here."

"Everytime they fight, you come and sleep over here?" Hiccup asked, his heart tightening.

"Uh-huh," Jadis answered.

"Where do you sleep at?" Hiccup asked, wondering how many times Jadis had come over without anyone's knowledge before.

Jadis hopped off the couch and ran over to the basket that held extra blankets, yarn, knitting needles, and scraps of cloth. She climbed into the basket and then pulled one of the blankets out to cover herself in.

Hiccup shook his head as he stood up and tucked his baby into the crook of his arm. "Jadis, get out of there. There are needles you can hurt yourself on in there."

"I know," Jadis answered. "I know to be careful."

"No, I don't want you in there even if you're being careful," Hiccup bent down and helped Jadis out. How many times had this little girl snuck into his house to sleep in a basket because her father and grandfather were fighting?

"Jadis, how many times have you come in here?"

"I dunno. A bunch."

Hiccup felt his chest clench up.

"Do you always sleep in the basket, and how do you get in?"

Jadis walked over to a loose floor board and pried it up. "I crawl under the house and come up here."

"Jadis, there could be wild animals or sharp thing under there that can hurt you," Hiccup sighed. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming over here?"

"I didn't want to get in trouble," Jadis answered.

"You're not gonna get in trouble," Hiccup bent down to Jadis' level. "If you need a place to say we'll give it to you, but I don't want you getting hurt."

Jadis nodded. Viddi began to grow sleepy against Hiccup's shoulder. "Wait here for a moment."

Hiccup walked back up the stairs to his bedroom and set Viddi down in her cradle. He kissed the baby's forehead then walked back to the living room. Jadis stood in the middle of the room, shifting uneasily. Hiccup smiled to try and put her at ease.

"I've been working on a new invention for a while, want to see me test it out?" he asked. Jadis nodded eagerly. Hiccup walked over to the couch and pulled off the cushions, revealing a wooden slab with a circle drilled into the corners of the slab. Hiccup reached into a pocket in the couch and pulled sticks that he screwed into the holes. He then pulled on a rope handle and pulled out a mattress. He folded out a bed, and then set a cushion on the foot of the fold out bed.

Jadis squealed in delight. "A secret bed!"

"Yes, a secret bed hidden in the couch, and you can use this whenever you come over, just come get me to fold it out for you."

Jadis jumped onto the bed in excitement and snuggled her head into the cushion pillow. Hiccup threw one of the spare blankets over her. He then set another blanket around his shoulders and headed outside. He trekked his way to the Jorgenson house. He banged his fist against the door. No answer. He knocked again. Still no answered. Hiccup pushed the door open, and found Snotlout passed out in the middle of the floor, drunk. Spitelout was sprawled out on the couch, as plastered as his son. Hiccup just shook his head as he closed the door.

"What are you doing, Snotlout?" he whispered as he began to trek back to his house. Jadis was snuggled deep under the blankets as when he entered the door.

"Are you okay, Jadis?" Hiccup asked as he closed the door.

"Yes, Mr. Chief, thank you."

"Your, welcome." Hiccup stopped at the foot of the stairs, then turned to the toddler. "You're a good kid, Jadis. Remember that. Good night."


	6. I Understand Now

**AN:** **Lots of injuries in this one, be warned. May not be best for queasy readers.**

 **Annly and Torinth: 12**

 **Viddi: 9**

 **Jiniva: 6**

 **Handalf: 2**

I Understand Now:

"Berserker attack!"

The bells rang across the island as dragon riders and warriors raced to Defend Berk while the children and elderly scurried to find shelter. Hiccup leapt off of Toothless' back, landing on a Berserkers back, slamming his metal leg into the back of the enemy's head, knocking him out cold. He then grabbed the man by the scruff of his shirt, throwing him in the air so a passing by dragon could grab him and throw him in the prison.

"Argh!" Hiccup whirled around and saw another Berserker racing towards him with a mace in hand. Hiccup waited, hand on his sword, waiting for the perfect moment and…

With one swift motion he dodged the swing, brought up his sward and bashed the end of his handle into the man's skull, rendering him unconscious. He was reaching down to toss up his newest victim, when he heard a shout from behind.

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup turned to find his mother jumping off Cloudjumper and running towards him.

"Mom, what's-"

"It's Torinth," Valka gasped as she reached her son. Hiccup felt like someone had filled his chest with ice water.

"What about Torinth?"

"I went to the cove to check on the children, and Torinth wasn't there. Annly said a Berseker found them in the woods, and he stayed to distract him."

Hiccup felt his stomach drop to the center of the earth. He whistled for Toothless, who swooped from he'd landed on a perch of one of the house, where he'd been commanding the dragons as alpha. The black Night Fury leaped to his riders side. In a flash he swung onto his dragon, and they darted off. They sped over the dragon between Berk and the cove, Hiccup searching desperately for his son.

"C'mon, son, where are you?" he whispered, his voice shaking.

Hiccup scanned over the landscape below, desperately looking for his little boy.

A bloodcurdling scream filled the air from directly below. Without hesitation, Hiccup jumped from Toothless back, diving through the trees to the ground. As he broke through the branches, he saw a sight that made his heart stopped. A burly Berserker man stood on the forest floor, hovering over 12-years-old Torinth, who was lying in a pool of blood with his sword knocked aside, the Berserker raising a jagged sword over the boy's head.

Hiccup leaned to the side, changing his trajectory so he could launch himself off of a tree trunk, propelling himself towards the Berserker. He knocked the Berserker off his feet, causing him to drop his sword. Hiccup somersaulted himself back on his feet. Pulled out his sword, and ignited it. The Berserker jumped to his feet, barring his fists ready to fight. He quickly found himself on the retreat, however, as Hiccup charged toward him, swing the burning blade within inches of his neck, scorching the skin of his chin and face. He jumped back to avoid the flame and sharp edge of the blade, and ended up falling over.

With the enemy stunned, Hiccup took a moment to check on his son. Torinth was unconscious, and his body was covered in cuts, and he had a very nasty gash on his side, but he was breathing. The Berserker let out a strange and loud shrieking sound from behind. Hiccup turned to face him once more, only to see a green liquid coming straight towards him. Knowing exactly what it was, Hiccup snatched his shield off his back and held it up to protect his face and torso, planting his feet, or foot, in firm place in front of Torinth. The acid made impact and, as Hiccup had expected, bits of it went over his shield and landed on his hand, upper arm, and back. Knowing he only had a few minutes before the acid would eat through his armor and to his skin.

He dropped the shield, reignited the sword, and dove towards the Berserker. By now the enemy had regained his sword and was ready to fight. He raised his sword above his head, ready to strike Hiccup down, but Hiccup easily dodged the blow and slashed the Berserker across the back, burning and gashing the foe. The Berserker shouted in pain and tumbled to the ground. Without missing a beat, Hiccup bashed his metal leg into his head, knocking him out.

A wet weight splattered onto his back, and he could hear his armor dissolving. He turned around, and saw a Changewing stalking towards him. He dropped his sword, and raised his hands, ready to do whatever he had to do to get the dragon away from him and his son.

A Night Fury's cry filled the air, as Toothless sprinted through the woods and pounced onto the Changewing. Before Hiccup could even respond, he heard the Berserker's war cry again, and he turned to find the enemy charging towards him, fists in the air. Hiccup put up his fist, but he wasn't fast enough. With a sickening crack, he was knocked off of his feet by a blow to the jaw. Hiccup scrambled to get back on his feet, but he felt a foot in his chest. The Berserker lifted his sword over his head, ready to cut Hiccup down. Hiccup grabbed the Berserkers leg, and with one roll, flipped him off his feet. Now on top, Hiccup began pummeling the Berserker in the face, over, and over, and over again.

A panicked Changewing's shrieked filled the air. Hiccup hopped off the Berserker, predicting exactly what happened next. The Changewing flashed over to the Berserker, snatched him up, and flew off.

With the danger gone, Hiccup raced to his son's side. Torinth had begun to stir a bit, whimpering in pain ever so slightly. Hiccup scooped the boy into his arms.

"It's okay, son," he whispered, even though he knew Torinth couldn't here him. "I've got you, you're gonna be okay."

He mounted Toothless, with his little boy in his arms, and they took off. The few minutes it took to get back to Berk were too long for him. The minute Toothless touched down, Hiccup jumped off his dragon and carried his son to the healer's hut, banging on the door. Heather answered the door, and gasped at the sight and immediately pulled the two into the hut. To Hiccup's shock and dismay, though, Heather immediately took Torinth from Hiccup's arms, and raced him into one room, while pushing Hiccup towards another. Hiccup tried to go after them, but he felt a strong hand on his arms, pulling him back.

"Let me go!" he screeched. "I need to get to my son!"

"Hiccup!" a familiar voice called to him. Hiccup turned and saw Fishlegs holding him back and pulling him towards a bench.

"Hiccup, look at yourself!"

Hiccup looked down. Half of his armor and shirt was completely gone, and his skin was yellow and blistering. He stopped fighting, and Fishlegs threw him onto the bench. He cut away the remainder of Hiccup's armor and shirt and began dowsing buckets of water over his boiled skin over, and over, and over again.

"Changewing?" Fishlegs asked.

Hiccup nodded, biting down on his lip to keep himself from crying out in pain.

"Thor, these are awful, Hiccup!" Fishlegs gasped. "Didn't you do anything to treat them on the spot."

Hiccup shook his head "no."

"Why not?" Fishlegs sounded like a disappointed mother. "You know that if you don't treat a Changewing attack immediately, it could eat away-"

"I was a little preoccupied trying to protect my son."

"You could have died!"

"Don't be melodramat-augh!" Hiccup gritted his teeth as another bucket of ice cold water poured over his wounds. "How's Torinth?"

"I don't know," Fishlegs answered.

"Well, can you go find out?"

"No, I need to clean your burns."

"Oh, so that burning ice water you've been dunking over me for the past ten minutes was just a warm up."

"It takes at least twenty minutes, to ensure that the acid is gone."

"It's gone, Fishlegs. I can't feel it, now let me go check on my son." Hiccup began to stand up, but Fishlegs jerked him back onto

"No, not yet, we still have to doctor it up after it's been cleaned."

"We can take a break, let me see him," Hiccup started to stand up again, but Fishlegs pushed him back on the bench, and the with one swift kick, knocked his prosthetic leg off.

"Oh, come on! Let me-"

"No, Hiccup, you have to let me take care of this."

"But-"

"No buts!"

Hiccup slumped on the bench as Fishlegs finished dumping water over him, and began dabbing the wounds dry with a towel. Hiccup scanned the floor, looking for where his leg had been kicked off to, and found it a few feet away. Trying his best to look inconspicuously as possibly, Hiccup reached with his good leg to try to push the leg closer to him. Fishlegs noticed, however, and kicked his prosthetic farther away.

"Oh, come on!"

"You have to let me fix this up!" Fishlegs growled, getting frustrated. "You could get a serious infection if you don't."

"It will only take a few minutes-"

"No, it won't."

"What would you do if this were you and Thistle, or Rowan?"

"I know exactly what I'd do, which is why I know it won't be just a minute," Fishlegs answered as he began smearing mineral oil over the burns.

Hiccup grumbled to himself in his throat, tapping his foot nervously as he waited, defeated, for Fishlegs to finish.

"Can you at least tell me about the other four?"

"With your mother last time I heard."

The minute Fishlegs finished tying off the last bandage, he stood up on his one leg.

"Okay, give me my leg."

Fishlegs sighed agitatedly, and handed Hiccup his leg. Hiccup strapped it on, and headed out of the room, towards Torinth's room. Just as he approached the door, Heather came out.

"Torinth's fine, he took a pretty bad beating and he'll be hurting a while, but he'll be okay."

Hiccup let out a relieved sigh, and pushed past Heather into the room. Torinth laid on one of the beds, bandages covering his arms and lower waist. A small red stain poked through the right side of the waist bandage, but the rest were pristine white. Torinth opened his sky blue eyes, and seeing his father, reached out a hand ever so slightly. Hiccup immediately knelt next to him, taking his son's hand in his, and running his other hand through his hair.

"Hey, buddy," he smiled, holding his son's hand to his face, then blurted out, without slowing down to ensure his son could read his lips: "You scared me to death!"

Torinth gave a small smile, then gave the signs for brother and sister.

"They're fine," Hiccup did make sure to speak solely this time. "Your grandmother has them."

Torinth let out a relieved sigh and smiled again.

The door to the room busted open and Astrid rushed to the bedside.

"Torinth!" she shrieked. "Baby, are you okay?"

Torinth nodded, and gave the "ok" sign.

Astrid snatched the boy into her arms and held him close. As she held her son close, Astrid looked over at Hiccup, and let out a shocked and frightened gasp. Hiccup, confused, looked down at himself. His entire upper body from his neck to his waist was bandaged up. Curious, Hiccup pulled back some of the bandages on his shoulder, to reveal that his skin had been completely replaced by red boils. Now it was his turn to give a gasp, this was worse than he thought. He quickly put the bandage back, and looked back up at his wife. One look, and he knew she'd seen the blisters.

The door opened again, and Valka, the other four children, and Gobber stepped in.

"Tori'!" Handalf cried as he toddled over to his brother's bed. Torinth smiled and snuggled him to his chest.

"Whoa!" Jiniva exclaimed as she saw the bandages. "I'll bet you get some awesome scars!"

"Jin!" Annly scolded, looking like she was about to cry at the sight of her twin in such a condition.

"Well, I must say, lad, I expected you to be in a lot worse shape than this," Gobber nodded, impressed at the sight.

"Gobber!" Now it was Astrid's turn to scold.

"What? It's a compliment," Gobber shrugged as he ruffled the little boy's hair. "At this rate you'll be Berk's greatest swordsman by the time you're sixteen!" Gobber then turned to Hiccup.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Hiccup answered.

"Good," Gobber nodded before smacking Hiccup over the head with his hook. "Then what were you thinking, you mutton head."

"Ouch!" Hiccup turned to glare at Gobber, then noticed everyone in the room staring at them. "Can we talk about this outside?"

Hiccup led the older man into the hall, where Gobber all but exploded. "Changewing acid!? You flew all the way here covered in Changewing acid, and you didn't wash it off? Did you not think, lad?"

"I didn't have time," Hiccup explained. "I had to get Torinth here."

"You are in much worse condition than Torinth right now."

"No I'm not."

"Hiccup, you're skin is completely gone from your waist to your neck!"

"It's not completely gone, it's just-"

"Blistered and boiled, I know, that's as good as gone!"

Hiccup opened his mouth but Gobber cut him off.

"You could have been killed, Hiccup, did you not think about yourself?"

"No, because I was too worried about my son!" Hiccup cried.

Gobber opened his mouth to say something, then stopped, a sad look in his eye. Hiccup stared, stunned.

"Gobber?"

"I know," Gobber nodded. "I know, you were just looking after your boy. I just…I just don't want it to happen again, and it came close today."

Gobber walked off. Hiccup stood stunned, thinking about what Gobber had said. After a few moments, he peaked back into Torinth's room, and saw his family and curled up in the bed together, chattering and fussing over his brave swordsman. Hiccup smiled then, sure that everyone was safe, walked out of the healer's hut. The Berserkers had left now, and everyone was busy cleaning up. No one noticed as their chief walked through the village to the statue of the late Stoick the Vast.

Hiccup stood there a while, staring up at his father's image. For years, he'd lived knowing it was while saving his life that his father had died. Though he'd never admitted it, he'd always been a little guilty, perhaps even confused by it, wishing he could change it somehow.

Hiccup looked down at his bandages. The echoing of Fishleg's and Gobber's words still rang in his ears.

"You could have died."

How much longer would it have taken for the acid to burn through to something important? Ten? Fifteen minutes longer? And it wasn't until even after the fact that he'd realized how close to death he'd gotten.

Hiccup looked up at his father's statue again, and let a sad smile spread across his lips as he whispered:

"I understand now."


	7. I Thought I Lost You

I Thought I Lost You:

Astrid slowly opened her eyes. A stream of sunlight penetrated through the window and stung her eyes. She scrunched up her face as she tried to sit up, only to collapse back to the bed, clutching her stomach in excruciating pain. Her head began hammering behind her brow, as she groaned. What the heck…

"Astrid?"

Turning to look to her side, Astrid saw Hiccup picking up his head from where it had been resting on his crossed arms on the mattress as he sat in a chair pulled up to her side of the bed. There were bags under his eyes, and his cheeks were red and puffy. Astrid scowled in confusion. Why was he sitting up next to her instead of lying on his side of the bed as always? And had he…had he been crying?

Hiccup lifted his head a bit more, and his eyes grew wide as they rested on her.

"Astrid!" He launched forward from his chair and seated himself on the edge of the bed, grasping her face in his hands as he hovered over her. Astrid jumped at the gesture, startled by his urgency. He was staring a hole in face, as if he was afraid she'd evaporate in front of him if he looked away.

"You're awake," he sighed in relief as he ran his thumb over her cheekbone.

"What…what happened…?" Astrid asked confused as she tried to sit up, only to groan in pain again.

"No, don't try to get up," Hiccup gently pushed her back to the bed. "You've had a rough week."

"Week!?" Astrid shouted, confused and a bit terrified. "What in Thor's name-"

Astrid's heart dropped. She placed a hand over her throbbing stomach, and her entire being grew cold to find it was flat. Tears began to sting the brim of her eyes as her vision grew blurry. Her throat tighten, but she somehow managed to choke out three words:

"Hiccup…the baby…"

"He's fine," Hiccup assured her, as a flood of relief overwhelmed her, causing the freshly formed tears to fall. "Mom has him. He's alright."

"He?" Astrid turned to Hiccup, a smile playing on her lips. "We have a boy?"

Hiccup smiled as he nodded. "Yeah. Torinth finally has a brother."

Astrid let out a small chuckle of joy, sending shock waves of burning pain through her torso.

"Easy," Hiccup's face turned concerned as he smoothed her hair out of her face. Astrid frowned in confusion as she clutched her aching abdomen.

"Hiccup, why am I like this?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup grew silent, gently running his fingers through her golden locks with on hand, while intertwining the fingers of his others with hers.

"What's the last thing you remember, Astrid?"

"I…" Astrid shook her head. "I don't know…"

"Try to remember something."

Astrid closed her eyes, and pressed her mind for any memory. "I…I remember going into labor…and telling you, and you helping me to our room, and getting the kids to your mom…I…I think I remember the midwife coming, and I started pushing and then…" Astrid gasped, as the images began to come back in quicker fashion.

"I…I…remember her saying something was wrong. I asked what and she, she wouldn't say, just told me to stop pushing and get ready…I asked get ready for what…then she said something to you…I didn't hear it, so I tried to ask what it was and then…"

Astrid opened up her eyes, confusion swimming wildly in her mind as she tried to make since of everything. "…pain…I don't remember what happened after that, I just remember…pain…and pushing…and…I don't just…PAIN…worse than any of the other labors…I…Hiccup, what in the name of Odin happened to me?"

She turned to her husband, only to find him staring down, a tear slowly rolling down his cheek.

Astrid jumped slightly at the sight, causing her throbbing stomach to surge in its aching, making her hiss. Fighting through the wave of burning, she turned back the emotional wreck sitting next to her.

"Hiccup?"

There was a long, uncomfortable pause before Hiccup took in a shaky breath, and began to explain.

"The baby was upside down."

Astrid gasped, fear gripping her heart. She'd heard horror stories of how women and babies had died because the baby was in the wrong position.

"He was coming out feet first," Hiccup continued. "The midwife managed to get him turned around but in order to do that…well…" Hiccup shifted uneasily. "…she had to push him back in an then…turn him around inside you so he could come out right…but…"

Hiccup turned his back to Astrid covering his face in his hand.

"Hiccup?" Astrid set a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to look t her. Hiccup only shook his head, a sniffling sob escaping him.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked again.

Hiccup finally turned his head to look at her, but kept his back turned. Tears filled his eyes, and his voice was little more than a whisper. "I've never heard you scream like that, Astrid."

Astrid's throat tightened at the sight of Hiccup so distraught. She didn't know what to say, and even if she did, her voice had left her, so she just squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"The minute he was born you passed out…the midwife admitted she may have torn something and…" Hiccup's voice caught in his throat as he let out a shaky breath. "…and there was so much blood!"

Hiccup bit his lip as he tried to compose himself, turning away from her once again. Astrid painfully pulled herself into a sitting position. Unable to maintain herself for long, though, she leaned up against Hiccup's back, taking the weight off herself, and enabling her to wrap her arms around his middle. Hiccup slowly, cautiously turned himself, so that he was facing her. He carefully slipped his hand underneath her arm to support her, and gently grabbed her by her shoulders to guide her into his lap, where he engulfed her in his embrace, peppering her face with kisses as he held her close.

"They did what they could for you," he finally continued. "But told me there was…there was a chance you'd never wake up."

He grew silent once again, and buried his face in her hair. Astrid snuggled deeper into his embrace, resting her head against his chest, under his chin.

"Well, I'm awake now, aren't I?"

Hiccup chuckled joyfully as he pulled back just long enough for him to take aim on her lips, and dive in for a gentle, but no less passionate kiss. He ran his hands through her hair and over her face as he poured every ounce of love he could into the kiss. Astrid sighed as she slipped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

When she eventually pulled away for air, Hiccup simply began planting kisses across her cheek, down her neck, and back up again so he could repeat the process along the other side.

"Hiccup," Astrid chuckled as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I thought I lost you, Astrid," Hiccup whispered as he wrapped his arms around once again.

Astrid smiled as she nuzzled her face into his neck and held him close. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

Hiccup smiled and held her tighter, only to have her wince in pain. Hiccup quickly let go of her and lied her back down in the bed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Oh, Thor, I'm so sorry, Astrid, I didn't-"

Astrid grabbed Hiccup by his tunic, and shut him up with another kiss to the lips. When they parted, Hiccup's face was serious.

"Astrid, there is something else I have to tell you."

Astrid scowled in concern. "What's that?"

"When the midwife turned our son around she accidently…well…damaged something in you."

"What do you mean by-"

"We can't have anymore children, Astrid," Hiccup finished before she could ask anymore questions.

"Oh," Astrid turned away to wrap her mind around what she'd just heard. On one hand, she already had five children, which was more than most women would ever had, and she'd already made plans to talk to Hiccup about stopping having babies after baby # 5 was born. But that was going to be their choice. Her choice. And she would have had to option of changing her mind if she regretted her decision, but now…

Hiccup gently caressed her cheek. "Are you okay?"

Astrid nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Hiccup lied down next to her, and slipped his arm around her, kissing her cheek. "I know this is hard for you, but for what it's worth, I think we've done a pretty good job making the kids we already got."

Astrid smiled softly. "Yeah. And I was kind of done having babies anyways."

"You and me both," Hiccup suddenly tightened his grip on her. "After this last time, there's no way I'm putting you through that again."

Astrid smiled and gave Hiccup's hand an affectionate squeeze. "So."

"So?" Hiccup arched an eyebrow with a small smile on his face.

"When do I get to meet our son?"

Hiccup grinned wider and planted a small kiss on her forehead. "Be right back."

He hopped off the bed and slipped out of the bedroom. Astrid shifted her weight so that she was propped up on her pillow. Waiting excitedly, she began to twirl the corners of the blanket in anticipation. Within a few minutes, Hiccup reopened the door, a tiny bundle tucked safely in the crook of his arm. Astrid immediately reached out with eager arms, as Hiccup lowered the baby into her embrace.

Astrid cradled the child to her chest with expert arms as she admired him. What little hair he had with a golden blond, and his wide curious eyes were already beginning to turn green.

"Hi, Baby," she crooned as she ran a finger across his cheek. "It's Mama. I'm finally able to meet you, you handsome boy."

The baby cooed and reached out a chubby hand for his mother. Astrid set her finger into his outstretched palm for him to cling to. She ran her thumb gently over the back of his hand.

"What's his name?" she asked as she gazed lovingly at him.

"You think I'd name him without you?" Hiccup asked, chuckling.

"So what have you been calling him this whole time? 'Baby Boy?'"

"Well, actually, yes."

Astrid laughed. "Dork." She turned back to her son, and thought for a moment. "Let's see. How about Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Fourth?"

"All that trouble you went through to bring him into this world, and you're going to name him after me?" Hiccup deadpanned.

"Jiniva's already got my name," Astrid reminded her husband. "But none of our children are named after you, and since we can't have anymore, this is you last chance at a namesake."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can use my middle name. But I'm putting my foot down not using Hiccup. The last thing Berk needs is two of us running around."

"Fine," Astrid sighed. "How about Handalf?"

Hiccup thought this over for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, Handalf."

The baby cooed again, and Hiccup smiled, setting a hand on the back of his newly named son's head.

"Hey, Handalf, whatcha looking at so hard?" he asked as he noticed his son's eyes were glued on his mother. "Yeah, I can't blame you for staring at Mommy. She's pretty easy on the eyes."

Astrid nudged Hiccup with her elbow playfully as she continued to rock their son. Hiccup stared at her, realizing once again how close he'd been to having her ripped away from him. Lingering terror gripped as his heart once more as he slipped his arm around her shoulders and nuzzled his face into her hair. Astrid repositioned their son so she could free one hand and set it on Hiccup's arm comfortingly.

"I already told you, Hiccup," She assured him as he gripped her tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."


	8. I Still Love You

**AN: I was in a fluffy mood. I have no other excuse. Takes place three months after Annly and Torinth were born.**

 **I Still Love You:**

Astrid examined herself in the mirror again. She sighed sadly as she ran a hand over the stretch marks along her stomach. Though she hadn't looked pregnant during the nine months she'd carried her twins, the day after the birth stretch marks began to appear. She groaned as she put her shirt back on and went over to the bed and began knitting (or trying to knit) a baby sweater. They'd arrived back on birth about two months ago and had immediately been caught up in a swirl of politics, parties, christening ceremonies, healer visits, and the usual chief duties, only tenfold since Hiccup had been away from Berk for so long due to being stranded on Dragon's Edge. On top of all that, snow storms were frequent, more than usual, and along with them came the damage that went along with them. Not to mention the threat of Dragon Hunter's still lurking about.

Astrid knew Hiccup was busy, and he was stressed. He was a chief of a village that was under constant threat of attack, struggling to get through a very harsh winter, and a brand new father. So what if he had to take a break from being a husband? What if he wasn't paying a lot of attention to her? So what if their only interactions were a good morning and good night kiss? Could she really blame him? He was just preoccupied. When things calmed down things would go back to normal, right?

Despite her reasoning with herself, however, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe he just wasn't attracted to her anymore. Watching her give birth could not have been pretty. Watching her mourn what turned out to be a false miscarriage couldn't have been fun either. She hadn't been pleasant during that time. She constantly snapped at him, demanded a lot from him. He stayed with her. But he was obligated to, right? Maybe he didn't want to? And to top it all off, she had these hideous stretch marks appearing all over her body, along with bags under her eyes from loosing sleep to take care of infant twins.

Speaking of which, as she struggled to untangle a knot in the yarn, Torinth began crying softly. Astrid set her knitting aside and walked over to the cradle. She scooped her fussing son up into her arms and began bouncing him.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" she asked as the little boy began chewing on his fists, still fussing. "Are you hungry?" she asked as she settled onto the bed and untied the top of her shirt and began to feed him. She leaned back against the headboard of the bed and closed her eyes as Torinth ate. It was selfish really, wanting to demand some of Hiccup's already thin spread attention, but, she missed him. Yes, she saw him every day, but they hardly spoke, never touched, and only exchanged two half-second kisses right after they awoke and right before they went to bed. She really did miss him.

Pretty soon Torinth finished up, and Astrid fixed her clothing so she could burp him against her shoulder. He soon fell back to sleep and Astrid laid hi back in his cradle. She checked on Annly, who was still sound asleep, before going back to her knitting. There was still a knot in the yarn, and she struggled to undo it. It took several tugs and twists, and she about rubbed her fingertips raw before she finally succeeded in getting it out. She nodded proudly, before realizing that during her struggle, she caused several loops to fall of the needle and cause the knitting to unravel.

Practically growling in anger, Astrid grabbed the knitting and tossed it across the room.

"You can't even make a sweater for one of your two children in the middle of the harshest winter Berk's seen in over a decade, and you wonder why he doesn't want you anymore?" she scolded herself as she drew her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on them. Tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She frowned, huffing angrily. She was being stupid.

As her angry breathing evened out and quieted she could hear the familiar "click, click, click," of Hiccup's prosthetic leg on the floor. She picked up her head in time to see him pick up the pile of yarn and knitting needles. He walked over to the shelf and set the knitting on the top. Astrid laid her head on her knees again.

 _Please don't let him hear what I said! Please don't let him hear what I said! Please don't let him hear what I said!_

The familiar shifting of the mattress signifying that Hiccup had seated himself onto the bed made her cringe slightly.

 _Please. Please. PLEASE! Don't let him hear-_

"Astrid, c'mere."

 _He heard._

Astrid groaned and shook her head. She was an idiot!

Hiccup set his hand on her back, but she didn't move. He scooted closer to her and gently pushed her braid over to one of her shoulders and kissed the back of her neck. Astrid gasped at the gesture. He ran his hands up and down her back, causing her to relax enough for him to slip his arms around her waist and pull her into his lap. Astrid crossed her arms, unsure of what was happening exactly. Hiccup kissed her just below her ear and then travelled down to the base of her neck.

"Hiccup…?" Astrid asked timidly.

Hiccup ran his hand over her arm from her shoulder until he intertwined his fingers with hers.

"Astrid?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes?"

"Why would you think I don't want you anymore?"

Astrid felt a twinge of regret go through her body. "I don't."

"Then why'd you say it?"

"I-I dunno."

"Astrid…"

"I dunno," Astrid squirmed uneasily. "I-I-I just say stupid stuff when I get overwhelmed or frustrated, you know that."

"And what are you frustrated about?"

"Being a new mother."

"No, that's not it."

"Sure it-"

"Astrid," he gazed firmly and gently at her.

Astrid hung her head and pushed her bangs behind her ear nervously. "I guess…I just…I miss you."

"You see me everyday."

"Yeah, I know, but we don't talk. We don't hang out. I give you a kiss when I wake up, and then I don't see you again until I give you a kiss goodnight and I…I miss just being around you."

Hiccup buried into her shoulder and squeezed her waist. "Astrid, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you're the chief and you're busy."

"And you're my wife," Hiccup picked his head up and looked into her eyes. "I should be giving you attention and taking care of you."

"I'm a strong girl, I can take of myself, I don't need-"

"Astrid," Hiccup turned around gently laid her on her back on the bed and hovered over her, smoothing her hair. "It's just me here, you don't have to be strong or invincible around me." He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Astrid closed her eyes and let out a satisfying sigh as she began to run her fingers through his hair. "I know I don't, but with everything that's going on right now, I don't want to overwhelm you or add more burdens to your plate."

"Burden?" Hiccup chuckled. "Astrid, listen-" he kissed the tip of her nose, "there are a lot of things I have to deal with that I would qualify as being burdens, but-" he planted a small kiss on her lips, "Making out with my wife is not one of them," he kissed her on the lips again, "I would take this over pretty much anything else I have to do as chief any day."

Astrid laughed softly as he began kissing her neck again.

"Wah! Wah! Wah!" Annly began crying, and soon Torinth joined in. Hiccup sighed, aggravated, and sat up.

"Right on cue."

Astrid laughed as she stood up and walked to Annly's cradle, assuming she was hungry, and her motherly instincts proved her right. Astrid sat on the bed to feed her, as Hiccup tended to Torinth, who just needed a diaper change. After Annly had finished, Astrid settled Annly into her cradle and kissed her cheek. As she stood up, she felt a set of strong arms close around her waist.

"Okay, c'mere you," Hiccup picked her up and tossed her onto the bed again and leaned over again to kiss her. "We have some unfinished business."

"Let's do remember that our children are still in here," Astrid reminded him.

"Oh, we don't have to do anything like that, don't worry," Hiccup said as he kissed her cheek.

"So what are we doing?"

"I'm trying to show how much I still love and want you," Hiccup answered as he intertwined his fingers with hers. "And I want you to just enjoy it."

"Hm," Astrid sighed as he caressed shoulder. "That shouldn't be too difficult."


	9. Overprotective Daddy Syndrome

**AN: Skipping ahead to Annly and Torinth's teenage years for a little while for a bit of a lighthearted, funny moment after all the feels I dumped on you guys in the last few chapters, and to show off the kiddo's personalities more since I haven't really done that yet.**

Overprotective Daddy Syndrome:

"Pirates?" Astrid asked, arching one eyebrow. "You and Toothless go flying for one hour and you come back with pirates?"

"What can I say, it's a gift," Hiccup answered with a shrug as he stood outside the great hall with his family for a brief moment before he'd have to go give an update to the village in the meeting that was to take place in about an hour.

"Do they want to harm us?" Astrid continued to inquire as Annly and Torinth oversaw some competition between Jiniva and Handalf behind them. As usual, Viddi had her nose buried in a book, ignoring her siblings' shenanigans.

"Well I'm sure they don't want to invite us to a tea party," Hiccup answered.

Astrid gave him a playful glare, causing the corners of his mouth to curl up in a grin. "In all seriousness, though, I don't know what they want, if anything at all."

"So you brought their captain and crew members to Berk's prison?"

"Well, they did try to shoot me and Toothless down, what did you expect me to do?"

"I don't know. Taunt them with sarcastic quips."

"Who said I didn't?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Y'know, I thought by the time we had teenage children you'd be over this daredevil, finding danger thing."

"Now what fun would that be?"

Astrid chuckled and shook her head.

"Naw!" Handalf screeched as, apparently, Jiniva had won the game. The twins congratulated their younger sister as Handalf stalked off towards Viddi and leaned his head into her thigh, distraught by his loss. Even though Viddi was only thirteen she was incredibly tall, the same height as Torinth, and almost as broad. Without taking her eyes off her page, she reached down with one arm, grabbed Handalf by the scuff of his shirt, lifted him up, and set him on her shoulders, where he fit easily thanks to the fact that he had inherited Hiccup's unfortunate childhood size issues. Handalf slumped over, resting his arms and head on the giant puff ball that was Viddi's ponytail.

"Aw, your book doesn't have any pictures!" he groaned in disappointment. Viddi let out a small sigh through her nose.

"That's because it's not a kids book."

"But I'm a kid! I need pictures!" the six year old lamented melodramatically. "Why don't you have a kid's book?"

"Because I'm a teenager."

"Teenagers stink!"

"True, but it is what it is," Viddi stated as she licked the tip of her finger to turn the page.

"Ugh!" Handalf collapsed into the puffy mess that was his sister's hair. "My life stinks!"

"Aw, c'mon, Handalf," Annly jeered as she reached up to poke Handalf in the ribs. "It's not that bad."

"But I never win anything, I'm the only one who doesn't have a dragon, I can't lift any weapons! I'm a failure as a Viking!"

"You're six," Viddi stated as she rolled her eyes. "You haven't eve grown into your nose yet. Chill out a bit and give it time."

"What's wrong with my nose?" Handalf asked, concerned, as he set a hand on the problem area.

"It's a figure of speech," Viddi sighed, turning the page again.

"Didn't you finish reading that book last week?" Annly asked, as she read over her younger, but already noticeably taller, sister.

"Don't judge me," Viddi blushed slightly as she pulled her book closer to her face.

"Judging!" Jiniva called as she appeared to be using Torinth as a jungle gym, who was watching on in amusement. "Come on, bro! Help me get on your shoulders."

Torinth signed "I cannot read lips when you move."

"Bull crap!" Jiniva yelled.

"Jiniva, what did I about that term?" Hiccup scolded.

Jiniva ducked her head in shame. "Sorry, Daddy."

Torinth gave Jiniva the "shame" sign, to which she stuck out her tongue.

Hiccup shook his head. "I'm not sure where she even heard that," he said, before an inkling sprouted in his mind. "It certainly wasn't from her father…" he gave Astrid an accusing glare, to which she put on her best innocent face with a small "hm?"

"What's this!?"

All of the Haddocks stopped their afternoon fun and turned to find the pirate captain swaggering towards them with a bowl in his hand. "Found this on a table in my cell."

"Really?" Hiccup asked in a amazement at the pirate's escape as Toothless jumped down from where he'd been perched on top of the great hall and plodded up behind him protectively. Handalf squeaked in fear and threw Viddi's ponytail over his head to hide. Viddi frowned at him in annoyance as she stored away her book in her bag and began cracking her knuckles, just incase she needed to punch anyone's lights out. Annly also turned and stood in front of her younger sibling with her arms crossed in a protective mode.

"A real pirate!" Jiniva whispered in wonder as she began to reach for Torinth's sword to go fight said pirate. Torinth stopped her, picked her up with one arm and covered her mouth with the other.

"Heym!" Jiniva cried in protest under her brother's hand.

"What?" the captain asked at the chief's shock as he waved his wrist that had a half locked pair of handcuffs latched to it. "I'm a pirate what did you expect? Now what is this mess?" He pointed to the bowl again.

"Gruel," Hiccup answered point blank.

"It's food, you eat it," Astrid added.

"Eat it?" The captain look unimpressed, "Are you trying to poison me?"

"If we were, you wouldn't be able to tell," Hiccup explained.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" the pirate challenged.

"Just please go back to your cell until we can figure out what to do to you," Hiccup began to strongly gesture the pirate back to the jailhouse.

"Being pushed about by a one-legged fishbone, I must be dreaming," the pirate groaned.

A snickering noise from behind the two men as Annly tried to fight back her laughter at the pirate's insult. Hiccup was about to make some playful comment about how she was a traitor for laughing at her old man, but the pirate spoke out before him.

"Oh, hello there," the pirate smoothly called, as he looked Annly up and down hungrily. "Now I'm really hoping that I'm not dreaming, what about you, Gorgeous?"

Hiccup clenched his fist as he glared at the pirate. Annly's laughter immediately dropped as she gave the pirate an unimpressed scowl.

"Really?" she asked, as she crossed her arms.

"Ruh-Roh!" Jiniva called, still muffled by her brother and eagerly waiting to see a fight.

"Aw. What's the matter, Sweetheart?" the pirate took a step closer to her, causing Hiccup to bristle up and run up to his daughter's side. He could feel the blood boiling to his face at the sight of this slimy…criminal…thing! Trying to put moves on his little girl! Astrid got there two steps before he did, axe already in hand.

"'Sweetheart?'" Annly scoffed as she made a motion to her mother saying "I got this." Astrid lowered her axe a tad, but did not move an inch away from her daughter. Meanwhile Hiccup began reaching for his sword.

"Don't like pet names then?" the pirate asked.

"No, I don't like scumbags," Annly explained and then waved her hand. "Bye, bye."

"Oh, ho, ho, ho. Sassy, are we?" The pirate chuckled as he began to take a few steps closer to Annly, causing Hiccup pull out his sword and Astrid to raise her axe again.

"I like a little fire in a woman," the pirate growled lustfully, making both parents to a step towards him.

Annly motioned for them to stand down again, and reached into the leather vest that she wore every day to pull out a metal cylinder with a Night-Fury design along the edges.

"You like fire?" she asked, pressing a button and a large bullwhip popped out of one end. Hiccup grinned, knowing exactly where his daughter was going with this. A proud smirk also graced along Astrid's face.

"How do you like this!" Annly cracked the whip, pressing another button and igniting it into a burning red flame.

The pirate shrieked and jumped back, his eyes were wide with shock. The other four children giggled from behind their sister, her wanna-be lover, and their parents.

Then, to Hiccup's dismay, the pirate smirked and laughed. "Well, well, well, I'm impressed. What's your name, Gorgeous?"

"I'm not telling you my name," Annly exclaimed.

"How about a nickname?"

"Her nickname is 'daughter-of-the-chief,' and I'm the chief, that's all you need to know," Hiccup replied, now pointing the tip of his sword under the pirate's chin.

"Oh," the pirate nodded. "I see what this is. Can't let Daddy dearest know how much you're into bad boys, can you?"

"I just waved a flaming bullwhip in your face and you think I still want you? And even if I did, my dad has a sword, that can catch fire, by the way, to your neck."

The pirate shrugged. "Playing hard to get?"

Annly lifted one eyebrow in disgust. "Okay. You're a special kind of stupid."

"Maybe you can smarten me up a-"

"Alright, enough is enough," Hiccup said as he dug the point of his blade just deep enough into the pirate's neck to get his attention. He grabbed the pirate roughly by the arm and dragged him back towards the jail. "C'mon."

"A little overprotective, aren't yah Daddy Chief Dear."

"Oh-ho-ho, you don't wanna know how overprotective I can be," Hiccup warned as they reached the jailhouse and he shoved the pirate to the guard.

"Wha-How-" the guard stuttered.

"I dunno, just put him back in his cell and get a Nadder on him, just to be safe," Hiccup ordered before turning back to the pirate. "Now, behave yourself and I might, MIGHT, go easy on you. Depends on how forgiving I'm feeling after that little stunt you pulled."

"Over protective AND over sensitive, eh?"

Hiccup growled low in his throat. He REALLY hated this guy! "Just stay in your cell and away from my daughter!"

"You tried to hit on the chief's daughter?" the guard exclaimed. "Oh, we gonna get some special treatment for you!" He shoved the pirate inside and turned back to Hiccup.

"It was the brunette, wasn't it? I told you that you needed to watch that girl!"

Hiccup nodded and began to walk back to his family. He knew the guard was right. Of course he was biased since Annly was his daughter, but even if she wasn't he'd have to admit that she was becoming…who was he kidding? HAD become a beautiful young lady. She looked a lot like Astrid when she was younger, only with his hair, freckles, and tendency to be a bit unkempt due to stunt flying and exploring, but even that couldn't dim her beauty. Hiccup sighed. Sooner or later some young man was going to catch her eye, and he wasn't going to like it! In fact, Annly's love life was a little overdue. Torinth had already found himself a girlfriend, Annly seemed to be content to be single, ironically. It was usually Torinth who needed a push towards growing up, not Annly. But that was the power of teenage boy hormones Hiccup supposed.

By the time he arrived, everything seemed to have gone back to normal. Handalf was still pestering Viddi atop her shoulders, while Torinth was teaching Jiniva some fencing techniques and Annly made playful jabs at the ten-year-old. Astrid was leaned against the outer wall of the great hall, watching them. She smiled when she saw Hiccup returning.

"Take care of it?"

"Oh, yeah. Told them to put a Nadder on him, and I let it slip that he'd tried to put the moves on Annly, so they won't be treating him very nice."

"Excellent," Astrid nodded in approval.

A loud crowd was forming in the Great Hall. Hiccup sighed. "Well, guess that's my cue. Let these five hooligans run out a little more energy before you bring them in."

"Will do," Astrid agreed before giving Hiccup a small kiss as he went inside.

A juvenile, albino Night Fury landed behind Annly and nudged her in the back. Annly turned and rolled her eyes.

"Oh, NOW you show up!"


	10. Breaking Point

Breaking Point:

"Okay, guys," Hiccup, said as he and Toothless landed in the arena with the adult riders. "Let's run through some drills and-"

Hiccup stopped when he saw Snotlout and Hookfang sitting near the back. He rolled his eyes. "Snotlout, isn't it your turn to watch the kids?"

"Technically yes, but-"

"Then why are you here instead of watching them."

"Well, I was thinking-"

"Oh, that's never good!" Tuffnut sighed, his arm around his wife, Olga, a pretty litte ginger, and Hiccup's cousin on Valka's side.

"Never," Olga agreed.

"Well, Amy and Terrece-"

"Annly and Torinth," Hiccup sighed as he corrected his comrade.

"Whatever, they're 12 now, practically teenagers, so why don't we just leave the kids with them?"

"Wait, what?" Hiccup asked in bewilderment.

"Yeah, then we can all train all the time and not-"

"You left my 12-year-olds in charge of 13 children ranging from ages infant to 11!?"

"Relax, they'll be fine. They're old-"

"May I remind your that Torinth is still recovering from a life threatening injury?"

"And Lars," Fishlegs piped in. "He's just now recovering from pneumonia! He needs constant ADULT supervision."

"Ah, c'mon, it's not like it will kill him. And even if it did, you guys have had him for what, a month? It's not even a real adoption yet!"

"Excuse me!" Heather challenged, brandishing her twin axes.

"And what about Lorrie?" Olga asked. She's only 2 months!"

Shouts and arguments erupted from the group of adults.

"Everybody calm down!" Hiccup shouted.

"-besides, they all hang out at the shop all the time, it's not like-"

"The shop!?" Hiccup exploded. "GOBBER'S SHOP!?"

"Well, yeah. Come on, it's safe, I leave Jadis there all the time."

"Only, I'm THERE when ya do!" Gobber screamed. "I never, EVER let anyone under the age of 14 stay there alone and for good reason!"

"Oh, Thor!" Fishlegs screamed. "My poor babies, they could be on fire, or stabbed full of knives, or caught in a mold or a sharpening wheel, or-"

"Less contemplating, more riding!" Heather called as she mounted Windshear and took off, everyone else following her. When they arrived at the shop they could hear choruses of screams and cries from inside. Every parent fearing the worst, they raced inside to find all the children, but Lorrie who was lying in a make-shift cradle made of a wooden box and some leather, screaming her lungs out, crowded in one area; gasping, crying, screaming, shouting, as Torinth tried to answer questions, signing as quickly as his hands could, but getting any "I don't signs!" in response, along with a thousand more questions. Abruptly he put his hands to his face and shook his head, completely overwhelmed. As Hiccup raced inside, he could see a red stain seeping through his shirt, showing that his heart rate had gone up due to too much stress.

Olga scooped Lorrie into her arms and began to bounce her gently as Hiccup carefully tiptoed his way through the crowd of kids as best he could with one leg, until he reached the center, where Torinth was. He set his hand on his son's shoulders, making Torinth look up. Fear filled the young boy's eyes, as Hiccup looked past him to see Annly on her knees, trying her best to tend to a wailing Winnith. The four-year-old's leg was bent at an odd angle and she was screeching in pain.

"Winnie?" Eret asked fringhtened as he knealt to his daughter's side. "Oi, what's wrong, girl?"

"Ma-ma-ma leg!" Winnith cried. "It hurts!"

"What happened?" Ruffnut demanded to know as she reach her husband and daughter's side.

"She-she-she," Annly stutter, shaking as tears rolled down her face. "She was climbing on the beams, and she got to the ceiling and fell off. I didn't see her. I was trying to keep Cohen and Jiniva away from the fire. I-I-I'm sorry!" Annly broke down crying as Hiccup set a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he assured you, before glaring at Snotlout. "This isn't your fault."

"Come on," Eret said as he picked his little girl up in his arms. "Let's get you to a healer." Ruffnut followed him out, guiding 9-year-old Loudmouth by the hand as she did. Hiccup turned to all the adults after they'd left.

"Take care of your kids, training is cancelled," he said. Everyone began to pile out as he called. "Not you, Snotlout."

Snotlout turned and glared at Hiccup with an annoyed glance.

"Come with me," Hiccup ordered as he, Astrid, and Valka led their children back to their house. Snotlout and Jadis followed along behind. Once inside Hiccup ordered all the children, including Jadis, upstairs. With all the kiddos upstairs, he turned to Snotlout.

"Of all the irresponsible, backstabbing, dangerous, reckless, careless-"

"Chill out, Hiccup, this isn't-"

"No, I will not chill out! You left 15 children alone in a blacksmith's shop!"

"So, the location was a little lacking-"

"A little? A LITTLE?"

"Sheesh, Hiccup, you're gonna explode in a minute if you don't calm down-"

"What do you expect, you mutton head!? This isn't just some training exercise or mission you screwed up. This was the team's children. MY children! MY BABIES you put at risk! How hard is it to take a little responsibility?"

"I'm not a babysitter, Hiccup, I'm a warrior! I wasn't made to always sit back and watch kids all the time-"

"All the time!?" Hiccup cried. "You watch them twice a month, same as everyone else, that's not asking much. And, no you might not be a babysitter, but you are a parent, so act like one!"

"Will you stop telling me that every freaking day!"

"I will when you actually listen! Be a parent! Please! You laid down and had a baby, now grow up and take care of your responsibilities. You want-"

"Maybe I didn't want this!" Snotlout cried. "Maybe I never wanted to be a parent or have a daughter!"

"Snotlout!" Hiccup's tone of voice changed from fury to horror as he stared behind them. Snotlout looked over his shoulder, and his insides grew cold as he saw Jadis standing on the bottom step, her hand clasped to mouth, tears welling in her giant grey eyes.

"Jadis, honey, I did-"

Jadis race out the back door and into the woods, sobbing violently. Hiccup put both hands to his face. Snotlout whirled around in panic.

"Hiccup you have to help me! You have to tell me how to fix what I just said!"

"You can't fix that," Hiccup exclaimed. "You can't fix telling your 11-year-old daughter that you never wanted her."

"Well, help me find her!" Snotlout called.

Hiccup sighed as he followed Snotlout out the door. "Astrid-"

"I know, go, we'll be fine," Astrid told him. Hiccup nodded thankfully at her and walked out.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

Jadis sat in a cove deep in the woods, her head in her hands as she sobbed. She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked up and saw Torinth standing over her.

"Hey," she said as she wiped her eyes.

Torinth sat down next to her and signed "how are you?"

Jadis shrugged. Torinth set his hand on her shoulder again. Jadis rubbed her eyes on her shoulder.

"Torinth?"

Torinth stared at Jadis, waiting for a response..

"Why-Why doesn't my dad want me?"

Torinth slipped his arm around Jadis' shoulder letting her lean her head against him. She cried and cried and cried.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"Jadis!"

"Jadis"

"Jadis!"

Hiccup and Snotlout rode through the forest, calling for the little girl. As they rode around, Hiccup spotted two small shapes in his and Toothless' cove. He landed, Snotlout and Hookfang following. He found Torinth, sitting cross legged, braiding three strands of grass together while Jadis slept on his shoulder.

"Hey!" Snotlout called as he stormed towards the boy. "What the heck are you doing!?"

"Nothing," Torinth signed, eyes wide, unsure why he was in trouble.

"What, I don't read hand flapping, talk! Oh that's right you-oof!" Snotlout was cut off by Hiccup elbowing him in the gut.

"Torinth what happened?"

Torinth signed quickly to his father, and Hiccup nodded.

"Well, what did he do to my little girl!?" Snotlout demanded.

"Nothing," Hiccup answered. "He saw her run out of the house and followed her to make sure she'd be okay. She came her to cry and he comforted her until she fell asleep, so he just sat there as not to wake her."

"How do we know he's not lying?"

"Snotlout, he's twelve," Hiccup sighed as he bent down to shake Jadis awake.

"Hm," Jadis mumbled. "Oh, hi, Mr. Chief, sir. Did-" Jadis caught sight of her father and hung her head.

"Jadis, are you okay?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes," Jadis nodded. "Mr. Chief, Sir, can I stay with you tonight?"

"You'll have to ask your father," Hiccup said, turning to Snotlout.

Jadis looks up at Snotlout with a look of cold disdain.

Snotlout said nothing, but sadly nodded and rode off.

Hiccup sighed. "Come on, you two, let's go."


	11. The Best Choice I Made

The Best Choice I Made:

 _Crash!_

The felt ball Annly, Torinth, and Jadis were tossing around knocked over the third object that day. Though Astrid couldn't see what it was from where she was seated in her room nursing Viddi, she still called down the stairs to the three toddlers.

"Kids, I already told you be careful!"

"It's alright, Astrid, darling," Valka called up the stairs. "I'll take care of it."

Astrid turned her attention back to the infant, stroking her curly red hair as she rocked her back and forth. From downstairs, she could here a knock on the door.

"Hello, Snotlout," Valka answered from downstairs.

Hearing her "old foes" name, Astrid made herself presentable and set Viddi over her shoulder as she stepped downstairs. Snotlout stood in the doorway, an ice cube on his head.

"Is Jadis here?" he asked.

"Yes, she's in the back room," Valka answered. "I'll fetch her."

As Valka left Astrid continued to rock her baby.

"Hey Astrid?"

"Snotlout," Astrid answered politely.

"New one giving you trouble?"

"Not too much," Astrid answered. "Just doesn't like to sleep at night."

"Right," Snotlout sighed. "So, I heard my dad paid you a visit."

Astrid tensed up at the reminder of Spitelout's "suggestion" that she mother a son for Snotlout. "Yeah, he did."

"Well, I guess I should apologize. I wouldn't try to force you to cheat on Hiccup-"

"Good," Astrid held Viddi a little closer to her.

"Do you think about it though?"

Astrid glared at Snotlout. "What?"

"What it would be like if we had ended up together instead of-"

"Are you serious!?"

"I'm not suggesting that we do anything, I'm just curious, do you think about it?"

"No," Astrid answered firmly. "I don't think about it because it was never a possibility."

"Really?" Snotlout asked. "I thought it was at least a little bit of a-"

"I'm married to Hiccup," Astrid said. "And you and your father need to accept that, because I'm not leaving him, I'm not cheating on him. Marrying him was the best choice I've ever made."

Valka finally returned with Jadis. The little girl skipped to her dad's side, but he hardly acknowledged her.

"C'mon, let go," he mumbled and they walked off, Jadis hanging her head shyly. Astrid watched them go, shaking her head. The nerve of that guy! And that poor little girl!

The door opened again. Thinking it was Snotlout, Astrid whirled around, but instead found Hiccup standing in the doorway. He looked absolutely exhausted, but he smiled sweetly at her and gave her a tender kiss on the lips.

"Afternoon, m'lady, mind if I take this little dumpling off your hands?" he gestured to Viddi, and Astrid let him take her.

"Daddy!" Annly cheered as she ran to Hiccup, Torinth following him.

"Hey, my little warriors," Hiccup called as he knelt onto their level and hugged him with his free arm and kissed their foreheads.

Astrid smiled at the scene. Yes, marrying Hiccup was the best choice she'd ever made.


	12. Jiniva Astrid HaddockHer Daddy

**AN: So I realized I have a story for each of the children's birth but Jiniva. So here I am mending that error.**

 **Jiniva Astrid Haddock:**

"…here it is!" the midwife cheered as she lifted a screaming, tiny, baby into the air. Astrid collapsed against the bed in relief, still slightly shuddering from the now dissipating pain. Hiccup let out a small half sigh half chuckle as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I told you that you could do it," he whispered.

Astrid smiled. After going through labor twice, she would have thought she'd be more calm and confident this time around, but once the contractions and pain hit, and she lost control of her body, her composure went out the window.

"Oh…" Astrid looked up and saw the midwife looking over the baby, with a strange expression on her face.

"Is it okay?" Astrid asked as her chest tighten. "Is something wrong?"

"Is the baby okay?" Hiccup repeated as he stood up.

The midwife looked up at Hiccup with a nervous look. "I'm sorry, Chief, but it's another girl."

Astrid turned to Hiccup timidly. They'd been hoping for a boy so that Torinth could have a brother, since all he had were two sisters. She wondered how disappointed Hiccup would be, or maybe he'd be really upset. Though they'd never voice it, there were doubts about whether or not Torinth could take over as chief one day due to his disability. While he was doing amazing with his deafness, having already taught himself how to read lips a little at only six years old, but it was still too early to determine if he'd be a capable chief yet. As terrible as it sounded, Hiccup needed a back-up plan.

As she watched him nervously, he let out a small chuckle.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"I know you were hoping for a-"

"Let me see her," Hiccup held out his hands. The baby hadn't even been swaddled or had the cord cut yet, but Hiccup insisted on taking the fussy infant. The midwife gave Hiccup a strange and nervous look as she handed the baby to him. Astrid held her breath, wondering how disappointed he'd be. What he'd say. He'd surely insist on having another so he could have another son. Oh, Thor, what if that one turned out to be a girl? What if-

The baby let out a small squeal as she was repositioned, handled, and maybe poked on accident while Hiccup took her.

"Oh, sh, sh, sh, sh," Hiccup whispered as he gently tucked her into crook of his arm to rock her. He examined her fingers, toes, hair, face, and then finally gently tapped her on the tip of her nose.

"She's not a boy," the midwife stated. "She won't be an heir, but-"

"Oh, pfft," Hiccup rolled his eyes at the midwife. "You think I care?"

The midwife looked surprised. "Well…she…she's not what you wanted."

Hiccup shook his head as he looked back down at the baby. "Look at her," he whispered. "She's beautiful."

Astrid let out a small sigh of relief as she watched him rock her again, and press a tiny kiss to her forehead.

The midwife approached to cut the cord and examine her for any illnesses or conditions while Hiccup still held her. The baby batted her arms and kicked her legs, and cried throughout the process. Hiccup rubbed her arms and legs with his thumbs comfortingly and spoke softly for her.

"It's okay. It'll be over soon. Hush, now, you're alright. Daddy's got you, you're alright."

Once the midwife was done and gone, Hiccup wrapped the baby up in a blanket and then brought her over to Astrid. Astrid reached out cradled the baby to her chest and looked her over. She let out a small gasp as Hiccup whispered:

"She looks just like you."

Astrid could only nod as she looked down at the little girl. A few stray tears fell down herself face. Hiccup wiped the tears away with his thumb and then kissed her cheek, before leaning head atop hers and slipped his arm around her shoulders. Astrid snuggled into his side as she patted their new daughter's back. Hiccup used his free hand to trace the contours of the baby's face. Astrid could see the joy radiating off his face as he gazed at the little baby.

She repositioned the baby so she could free a hand to cup under his chin. Hiccup turned to her and tenderly held her wrist in his hand. Astrid guided him down to catch his lips in her own. Hiccup stroked her arm as they kissed, and when they parted, buried his nose in her hair.

"Thank you," Astrid whispered.

"For what?" Hiccup asked.

"Not being disappointed."

Hiccup chuckled as he looked down at the baby and took her tiny hand in between his thumb and pointer finger. "How can I be disappointed at having this little Valkyrie?"

The baby clutched to his finger and grunted as she squirmed in the blankets, yawning. Hiccup smiled at the adorableness of the situation.

"We can still try a boy. As soon as I'm-"

Hiccup shook his head then kissed Astrid on the lips to shut her up. "Stop apologizing. I'm not disappointed. I'm overjoyed that we have another beautiful little girl! Especially since she looks just like you. Besides, we already have a son-"

"A son who's gonna want to have a brother."

"We'll worry about that later," Hiccup promised. "Right now it's about Jiniva."

"Jiniva?" Astrid asked.

"Astrid, she's your spitting image, it only makes since that we give her your middle name."

"Well then, what will her middle name be?"

"Astrid."

"Jiniva Astrid, the daughter of Astrid Jiniva," Astrid sighed. "Only you would come up with that idea."

"C'mon, it's got a nice ring to it."

"Okay, okay, I'll let you win," Astrid sighed, though she loved the idea of naming one of her babies after her. Hiccup kissed her cheek again.

"You feeling alright?" he asked.

Astrid nodded.

"Want me to get the other kids?"

She nodded again.

"Okay, I'll be right back," Hiccup slipped out of the room and went outside where the other three children were playing in the late afternoon sunshine. The twins appeared to be trying to teach Viddi how to do a summersault. Hiccup chuckled at the sight. Valka was seated in a chair pulled up to the side of the house, knitting what appeared to be another baby blanket to add to the pile she was making. Hiccup tapped her on the shoulder. She turned, and her face lit up.

"And?"

"A girl," Hiccup said.

Valka squealed in delight as she jumped up and hugged her son. Her outburst caught the children's attention, and they raced towards Hiccup.

"Daddy! Is the baby here? Can we see it? Is mommy done having the baby?"

"Alright, alright," Hiccup chuckled as he knelt to his children's level. "You all have a new baby…"

He held out to watch his children squeal and jup up and down.

"Tell us! Tell us! Please, please, please, please, PLEASE!" Annly begged as she jumped up and down while tugging on his sleeve.

"Telw! Telw! Telw!" Viddi cheered clapping her hands. Torinth squirmed excitedly and ringed his hands.

Hiccup laughed at their anticipation, then answered. "…sister."

The two girls cheered excitedly, while Torinth looked disappointed.

"Aw, c'mere, buddy," Hiccup hugged his son. "It'll be okay," he said as he pressed his mouth into Torinth's shoulder so he could tell what his father said. "You'll be a good big brother."

"I wanna see her! I wanna see her!" Annly begged.

"I zee ba'y now?" Viddi asked as she tugged on Hiccup's shirt.

"Yeah, you can see her now?" Hiccup scooped Viddi into his arms, and held the door open for the twins. They scampered up the stairs and Hiccup had to trot to keep up with them so he could get the bedroom door for them.

Astrid was leaned against the headboard of the bed, rocking the baby. Annly and Torinth raced to the bedside and climbed up to see the baby. Hiccup set Viddi next to Astrid then settled down next the them.

"Aw, she's so cute!" Annly cheered.

"Wha' her name?" Viddi asked.

"Jiniva," Hiccup answered.

"Jin'eha" Viddi repeated. "Jin'eha! Hewwo, Jin'eha!"

Torinth kissed Jiniva's forehead and then held his hands out for her.

"You want her?" Astrid asked.

Torinth nodded.

Hiccup scooted so he could set Torinth in his lap before Astrid gave him the baby. Hiccup helped guide the little boy's arms to the correct position as the two older girls leaned in on either of Hiccup's legs to watch the newcomer. Astrid leaned back and watched as Hiccup interacted with all four of their children. As Torinth rocked his new sister, Hiccup set an arm around both of the older girls, and watched along with them.

None of the four children were more important than the other. They were all equally loved by their father, regardless of sex, disability, or personality, not one was more important than the other in their father's eyes.

Astrid thought back to her own father, who tried to turned her into a hardcore, emotionless warrior because he never wanted a daughter. He had always wanted a son, so he treated her differently because of that. But not Hiccup. Despite hoping for a boy this time around, he was still overjoyed that they had a girl. He still made himself Daddy for her, not just a father.

A Daddy.

Her Daddy.


	13. Father's Tears

**TRIGGER WARNING! SELF-HARM INCLUDED IN THIS STORY!**

 **A Father's Tears:**

 **AN:** **Y'all gonna hate me for this. But I know several people who have faced these kinds of issues, and I think it could have been prevented or helped if they'd just had a parent who was attentive to their issues. So, take this as a cautionary/moral tale. Yes, parents are humans, and they make mistakes, but please, PLEASE! If you are a parent, and you notice your kid acting weird, do something about it. Find out what's going on. Don't just ignore it or throw into the "pre-teen angst" pile without investigating it first. I have been through some pretty dark times as a youngster because I was bullied throughout my grade school years and I suffer from ADHD and General Anxiety Disorder, and I got pretty close to dipping into self-harm on several occasions, but I never did because my parents always noticed when I was going through a dark patch and would constantly check on me to make sure I wasn't doing anything drastic. And I knew that they loved me, and I didn't want to hurt them in anyway, so I did my best to stay away from self-harm for their sake, despite having friends and family members who gave in. But the difference was our parents. So, please, if you have kids or are planning on having kids, be a parent who turns them away from self-harm, not pushes them towards it.**

 **Annly and Torinth: 16**

 **Viddi: 13**

 **Jiniva: 10**

 **Handalf: 6**

Hiccup frowned as he watched four of his children playing outside upon arriving home. Something that had been eating away at the back of his mind began its gnawing again. He walked up to Annly, who was helping Handalf do a back hand spring by supporting his back.

"Annly, where's Viddi?"

"Inside," Annly answered. "She didn't want to come out with us. She's in kind of a mood today."

"Where's your mother and grandmother?"

"Mom's helping Fishlegs train some new recruits today. Apparently there are more than usualy. Granna went to check on some hatchling Raincutters in the stables."

"Okay," Hiccup nodded, scowling again. Viddi had been acting strangely lately. Yeah, she was 13, and mood swings were to be expected, he'd already been through that fiasco with the twins.

This was different though. This wasn't just hormones, there was something…dark about the way Viddi was acting. Yeah, she'd always been the quiet one of the bunch. But she was always attentive, catching everything that was going on around her, always looking around for more information to feed her hungry curiosity. But she hardly stepped outside to people watch anymore. Never made her snarky comments. Not even her books seemed to interest her anymore.

Now rather than sitting out with a good mystery or drama and teasing her siblings about their craziness, she was copped up inside on a beautiful spring morning. Maybe he was overreacting but he was worried.

"I'm going to check on your sister," Hiccup told Annly as he walked towards the front door. He pushed it open and looked about. She wasn't in the living room. Or the kitchen. He groaned. He was hoping that, perhaps, she'd found a new recipe she wanted to try out and that was her reason for staying in.

But no.

Feeling uneasy, and not entirely sure why, he walked upstairs and began heading towards the girl's bedroom. He tugged on it, but was surprised to find it was locked. Knocking, he quietly asked:

"Viddi? Viddi, are you in there?"

There was no answer, but as he pressed his ear on the door, he could hear muffled sobbing. He gasped. Viddi got mad. She fumed. She yelled. She punched stuff. But she never, NEVER, cried. Heart breaking, he knocked again.

"Viddi. Baby, let me in," he begged.

Still no answer. He leaned his ear against the door again, and this time. She was still crying, but this was a different kind of sob. This was a cry of pain. Fear flowing through him like an icy river, he took two steps back, and kicked the door in.

Viddi jumped, eyes wide from the corner she was huddled in and then seeing her father, collapsed into a heap and began sobbing louder than before, not even trying to hide it.

"Viddi…" Hiccup ran to his daughter's side and began trying to pull her into his arms, but she resisted.

"Viddi, what's wrong?" He asked, but she shook her head and curled herself into a tight ball.

"Baby, please," he begged. "Tell me what's wrong."

"No…" Viddi cried. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Hiccup told her as he tried to gently force her out of her ball. As he struggled with her, he felt something hot against her upper arm. He looked and saw a series of scratches on her upper arm, so bad that blood was slowly oozing out of them. Hiccup grabbed her arm and pulled it closer to his face to examine them, despite Viddi's begging that he not.

"How did you get these?" he asked, wanting to know who or what had hurt his little girl so he could take good care of it. He looked at Viddi, but she'd turned away, covered her face in her hands. He let go of her, and she collapsed to the ground, utterly defeated. Hiccup felt as if an anvil from Gobber's shop had been dropped on his stomach as it hit him in his gut as a horrible revelation slapped itself into his mind.

"Viddi…" his throat tightened and he had to clear it several times before he could speak again. "Viddi, please tell me you didn't do this to yourself."

Viddi burst into tears all over again and curled back into a tight ball.

Hiccup collapsed onto all fours next to her. His entire body ached, he felt as if her were going to be sick of shock and pain. His Viddi. His beautiful, intelligent, strong, curious, bright little girl, hidden away in a corner, scratching herself until she drew blood.

"Viddi, why?" Hiccup demanded. Viddi winced, and Hiccup internally beat himself. He was too emotional, he was letting all of this affect him too much. He couldn't be hysterical, he had to be calm. He took in a deep breath, noticing the burning in his eyes that he battled ferociously with.

"Viddi," he began again. "I need you to tell me why."

Viddi shook her head again.

"Viddi-" Hiccup began again, then noticed a leather and bone structure around her torso.

"Viddi…?" He looked closer at it, then gasped again. "Where'd you get a corset? Take that off!"

Viddi stumbled to her feet and began fumbling to take the offending garment off. As she did so, Hiccup noticed a blotchy red mark on her face. He pushed her hair back and found that it was charred, burned stiff. The mark he saw was a burn mark. Viddi winced as he examined it. Glancing behind her, he saw the iron, with burned pieces of hair scattered around it.

Viddi finally got the corset off and threw aside, hanging her head, tears rolling down her face. Hiccup cupped her face in his hands. As he did so she began swaying back and forth.

"Viddi…" he began again, struggling to keep his whirlwind of emotions inside. "I need you to tell me what's going on."

"I can't," Viddi said again.

"Why not?"

"Because you'll think I'm weak, and stupid, and hate me."

"Viddi," Hiccup ran his thumbs over her freckled cheek bones and turned her face to look at him. "There is nothing you can do or say that would make me hate you."

She didn't look like she believed him, and turned away again.

"I love you, Viddi. You're my daughter, my baby, I'm always going to love you. And I want to help you, but I can't do that unless you tell me what's going on."

Viddi still said nothing, Hiccup bent down to her level and made her look at him again.

"Viddi, please. I can't do this. I can't watch you hurt yourself and not know why. Please, baby, please, tell me what's wrong."

Despite fighting against it with all his might, a single tear fell down his face. Viddi gasped. She'd only seen her father cry once, when her mother almost died in childbirth with Handalf. Now he was crying again.

And it was her fault.

She hung her head and began crying again. "I…I…I just wanted to be good enough…"

"What are you talking about?" Hiccup asked. "You are-"

"No I'm not!" Viddi screamed. "Daddy, look at me!" she threw her arms out as if to put herself on display. "Everyone else, you, Mom, Granna, the other kids, you're all skinny. You've all got short hair. You can all do back flips, and kick above your head, and do a split kick in the air, and do a double flip from a jump. I can barely do a summersault! I'm not thin! I'm not flexible! My hair's a frizzy mess! I can't talk to people without them thinking I'm some kind of nerd, or jerk, or that I have something wrong with me! All I do is sit around and read books! How am I supposed be a warrior or dragon trainer doing that? I'm never gonna be anything great. I can't even marry someone great, because who wants to marry a fat bookworm with a puffball mess of hair!"

Viddi collapsed onto the ground again, pulled her knees to her chest, rested her head on them, and cried. Hiccup clutched a hand to his mouth as he fell to his knees in front of her.

"Who told you all this?"

"Everyone!" Viddi cried. "Everytime they think no one's listening to me, they talk. 'Oh, she looks like Stoick, but she doesn't act like it,' 'if she's gonna be like Stoick, she should be a little more aggressive and proud, not always hiding,' 'oh, poor thing, those genetics didn't turn out well in the female version,' 'you think she's quiet because she's weak or dumb?Too bad she's the one who looks like Stoick,' 'Stoick was such a great warrior, she'll never be like him.' 'She's not strong enough to be like Stoick.' Everywhere I go it's always about how much I look like Stoick. How much I should be like him. How big of a disappointment I'm turning out to be because I'm not like him. I never even met him! How am I supposed to be like someone I never knew!"

"Viddi-"

"And it's not just that. Yeah, I'm not strong. I'm not aggressive. I'm not talented. But, y'know what? If this were Annly or Jiniva, they'd still be okay, because they're both pretty. I'm not!"

"Yes you are," Hiccup insisted. "You're just shaped a little differently, that's all."

"I'm built fat."

"No. Viddi there isn't an ounce of fat anywhere on you're body. You're just muscular, that's all."

"And girls aren't supposed to be muscular."

"Says who?"

"Everybody!"

"Yeah, and everybody said humans and dragons shouldn't live together. And that chiefs should have two legs and be buff. So what?"

Viddi stood up and went to her bed, she pulled something out from under it. She tossed it to Hiccup and then crumpled onto the mattress. Hiccup looked at the object. It was a party dress that Viddi had worn to a festival a few weeks ago, but now it was cut and bloodstained.

"Viddi what-?"

"I went outside the great hall to get some fresh air. Some girls came up and started asking me what I was doing. I told them. They said they thought I was going home. When I asked why, they said they be embarrassed if they were busting out of their clothes, and they began cutting the dress and asking me why I was so fat. So I ran home, hid it, and pretended to be sick so you wouldn't think something was wrong."

"Why didn't you just tell me?" Hiccup asked sitting on the bed and setting his hands on her shoulders.

"Because, I'm not supposed to let stuff like that hurt me!" Viddi shouted. "I'm a Viking! I'm supposed to be training to be a warrior and dragon trainer. I'm the daughter of the Dargon Master, I'm the granddaughter of Stoick the Vast, why should a little bullying hurt me? But-"

She broke down crying again.

Hiccup's heart shattered with each choke and sob that escaped his daughter's mouth. He gently scooped her into his arms and cradled her in his lap, smoothing her hair and rocking her as if she were a baby.

"You're not me, Viddi. And you're not your grandfather. You're you. And you're enough."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are. Viddi, who was the one who picked that giant tree branch off Handalf?"

Viddi sniffled before answering, "Me."

"Who translated the collection of scrolls we found hidden in that cave on Itchy Armpit?"

"Me."

"Who does most of the cooking around here now?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You're the only one that can actually do it. The rest of us just throw stuff in a pot and hope it doesn't turn out to be poisonous."

Viddi giggled a little through the choking and sniffling.

"Who found out there an old village buried underneath dragon's edge?"

"Me."

"Who's the youngest person to complete the strength challenge at the Summer Solstice fair?"

"Me."

"Who's currently working on condensing every discoverer's dragon research into one collection?"

"Me."

"See?" Hiccup asked. "You are enough. Just you. Yeah, you look a lot like you're grandfather, but you can't be him, because you're not him. And I'll let you in on a secret."

"What?" Viddi asked.

Hiccup sighed. He didn't like talking bad about his late father, but he knew this is what his daughter needed. Besides, Stoick would be saying a lot worse about himself if her were here right now than what Hiccup was about to say.

"My father was a great man. But he wasn't perfect. I haven't even told your grandmother this, but when he first found out about my friendship with Toothless he disowned me."

Viddi gasped as she looked up at her father. "He did?"

"Yup. He took me back and apologized for it, but he hurt me. He made mistakes just like everyone else. He wasn't perfect like some people make him out to be now."

Viddi sniffled again and leaned her forehead into her father's chest. Hiccup ran his fingers through her hair with one hand and held her tight with the other.

"I'm so sorry, Viddi," tears were slowly rolling down his cheeks as he spoke. "I should have known you'd feel left out, I felt the same way growing up. But, you are built so much like my father, so much like I was told a Viking is supposed to be, I didn't think you'd face this issue. I didn't consider the fact that me, your mother, your grandmother, and your siblings are all twigs, and that would make you feel weird. And, well, you are a girl. Expectations are different for girls and guys. I never had sisters, or even a mom growing up, so I don't always think about these kinds of things."

"I wish my father could have met you, though. He'd tell you how amazingly smart, and strong, a brave you are. And he'd be so proud of you."

"He would?" Viddi asked.

"Yes," Hiccup answered. "He would be. Because you've done things no other Viking has ever done because they're too busy hunting glory and adventure to notice all the important details that you do. You are curious and intelligent and always looking for something new to learn. Those are things most Vikings don't have. And to top it all off. You are strong. You'll be stronger than me or Torinth by the time you're fully grown I'll bet."

Viddi began smiling.

"And you are beautiful," Hiccup added. "Not in the same way your sisters are but, you're beautiful. You might me a little curvier, but-" Hiccup sighed. "I'm gonna hate myself for letting you know this, and you'll think I'm creepy, but, us guys? Well, we like curves. Yeah, your mom was skinny, and still is for her age, however…why am I telling you this?"

"Dad…?" Viddi had a curious but slightly scared look on her face.

"You know what one of the thoughts that kept going through my mind was when we were younger, was? It was, 'wow, Astrid's got a nice butt."

"Daddy!" Viddi skrieked.

"Well, it was," Hiccup grinned as he hugged his daughter tight.

"I love you, baby girl. And You are enough just on your own, no matter what anyone says. So I want you to promise me something."

"What?"

"Please don't hurt yourself ever again. And if you ever feel like doing it again, or feel like you're not good enough again, talk to me. I don't care what's going on or where I am. You come find me and talk to me. I'll never hate you. I'll always understand, and I'll do everything I can to help you. And if anyone does what those girls did to you at the festival again, tell me right away and I will deal with whoever it was. By the way, I need to get a name list of those girls from you when we're done here."

Viddi chuckled again and wiped her face. "Okay, I'll try."

Tears rolled down Hiccup's face as he held her tighter. "I love you so much, Viddi. Never forget that. Daddy loves you."


	14. Character Chart

**Not a Chapter, Just a Character Chart:**

So, no story here, just a chart of all the families and kids since someone requested it..

So first up, Hiccup and Astrid married each other, obviously, and they have five children:

Annly and Torinth who are twins.

Viddi, who is 3 years younger than the twins.

Jiniva, who is 3 years younger than Viddi, and 6 years younger than the twins.

And Handalf, who is 10 years younger than the twins, 7 years younger than Viddi, and 4 years younger than Jiniva.

Snoutlout ended up in an arranged marriage with an OC called Eleetha, who came from a village called Werkling. She disappeared the day after their only child was born:

Jadis, who is ten months younger than the twins.

Fishlegs married Heather. They have three children two biological and one adopted:

Rowan, biological, she is 1 year younger than the twins.

Lars, adopted after he and his parents washed ashore on Berk after an Outcast attack on their ship. His parents didn't make it. He's the same age as Viddi.

Thistle, biological, she's the same age as Jiniva.

Ruffnut married Eret. They have two children:

Eret, son of Eret, Grandson of Eret, more commonly known as "Loudmouth." He's the same age as Viddi.

Winnith, she's 1 year younger than Jiniva.

Tuffnut married Olga, an OC who is also from Werkling and is Hiccup's cousin and Valka's niece. They have four children:

Fritz who is the same age as Viddi.

Henrika who is the same age as Jiniva.

Cohen who is a year older than Handalf.

Lorrie who is two years younger than Handalf.

So, to recap, here is a list of the kids from oldest to youngest, divided in different fonts to their respective age groups.

Annly and Torinth

Jadis

Rowan

Fritz

Viddi

Lars

Loudmouth

 _Jiniva_

 _Thistle_

 _Henrika_

 _Winnith_

 **Cohen**

 **Handalf**

 **Lorrie**

And a bonus round, who eventually ends up with the Hiccstrid babies:

Torinth and Jadis end up getting together.

Annly ends up with a gypsy prince named Mavoc who's not on this list because he's not one of the original dragon rider's kids.

Viddi and Lars end up together.

Jiniva is a strong independent shielf maiden who don't need no man to take care of her! She stays single.

Handalf ends up with Winnith (yeah, I put her in Jiniva's age group, but she's only 3 years older than him, so as older teens and adults it's not that bad).

So, there you go, hope this makes things easier.


	15. We'll Make It

We'll Make it:

 **AN: This was requested by** **Anislabonis**.

 **Also, I'm going to be posting stuff about the Hiccstrid kids and what not on my Tumblr like pictures, questions, and the oneshots I've posted here too, but I'm gonna spruce those up before putting them on Tumblr, so they'll be slightly different. (copy and paste the link below if interested in checking it out): blog/theearthbendingravenclaw**

"Astrid!" Hiccup called as he and Toothless flew about the island. It was typical for Astrid to go flying in the morning for an hour or so, but it was now lunchtime, and she still hadn't come back.

"Astrid?" Hiccup knew he really shouldn't be too worried. Astrid could take care of herself. Things were different now. Astrid was a little more than three months along in her first pregnancy, and Hiccup was a nervous wreck. He hated to let his wife out of sight for a minute, but she insisted on maintaining some independence, so Hiccup let her fly in the morning. But now he couldn't find her, and it scared him.

"Astrid?"

Hiccup scanned the ground beneath him, trying to find her. Suddenly, he spotted her, and his heart sank. She was lying on the ground, still and alone. He urged Toothless to land and raced to her side.

"Astrid!"

Her eyes were closed. Scrapes covered her face and arms. Bruises dotted along her milky white skin. Hiccup pushed her matted hair out of her face.

"Astrid?"

She didn't respond, but she was breathing. Hiccup slipped one arm under her shoulders. He began slipping the other under her legs and felt something hot and sticky. He pulled his hand out and found it was covered in blood.

"No," he gasped, his body turning cold as he began to shake. "Odin, please, no!"

He lifted Astrid into his arms and stood up to reveal a red puddle underneath her.

Toothless began whining at the sight. He didn't really know what was going on. He just knew it was bad. And he didn't like it when bad things happened to his rider's mate.

Hiccup set Astrid onto Toothless' saddle, then swung himself up. They flew back to Berk as quickly as Toothless could fly. Hiccup practically jumped off Toothless when he got close enough to make the leap at Gothi's and raced in. Gobber was sitting inside with the older woman, knitting something and chattering good naturedly. The conversation abruptly stopped at the sight of the young couple, though, and both of the older adults rushed to help the young chief.

"What happened?" Gobber asked as he helped Hiccup set Astrid down on the bed at the back of the room.

"I don't know," Hiccup answered. "She didn't come back from her morning flight, and when I went looking for her I found like this on the ground, bleeding."

"Bleeding?" Gobber looked scared as Gothi looked Astrid over. Gobber slipped out to gather some of the other riders to go check out the place where Astrid had been found. Hiccup began pacing back and forth as he waited for something, anything! Anything to tell him that it was going to be okay. Gothi continued her examination, frown deepening with each passing moment. Gobber promptly returned and when he did, Gothi began scribbling with her cane.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," Gobber nodded as he read. His face suddenly grew sullen, and he stopped mumbling.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

Gobber didn't answer right away, but soon began stammering. "Well…um, Astrid…she's going to be fine, Hiccup. Astrid will be fine."

"And the baby?" Hiccup asked.

Gobber looked as if he'd been struck and turned back to Gothi. Gothi sighed sadly and scribbled in the dirt some more.

"Gobber?" Hiccup asked, his throat tightening.

Gobber shook his head as tears brimmed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, lad."

Hiccup felt the weight of the entire world crushing in on him as he stumbled into a chair. He covered his face in his hands. The baby was gone. Gone. Their child hadn't even been born yet, but it was gone. Ripped away from them before they could even meet it. Could even know if it was a boy or girl. Could even…

The door busted in, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut busted in.

"Hey, we found something at the-what's going on?" Tuffnut announced as he stepped in. Next to him, Ruffnut began to look worried.

"Is Astrid okay? What's wrong with Hiccup? Why's he looking so sad?"

"Astrid is going to be fine, but," Gobber began explaining as Hiccup began trembling, wanting to cry, but not being able to. He was frozen, trapped, he could cry, couldn't scream, couldn't even whimper. He was just trapped inside of himself. Trying to wrap his mind around the news while simultaneously trying to deny it.

"She just lost the baby," Gobber finished explaining.

A strange, almost choking noise escaped Hiccup just then as the twins turned to him.

"Oh, man," Tuffnut gasped. "I, I, I…"

"I'm so sorry, man," Ruffnut finally answered. "We didn't know it was that serious, we just though…Aw, man, I'm so sorry!"

Hiccup could only nod in response. He was still unable to cry or speak.

"We did find something though," Tuffnut began whispering to Gobber. Through the haze, Hiccup was able to make out Tuffnut whispering "trap" to Gobber.

Trap? This had all been a trap. Hiccup stood to his feet and walked over to the other two men. Tuffnut was holding something in his hand. Hiccup snatched it from him, against his and Gobber's protests not to.

It was a spring. A part of a dragon trap. Someone had set this up. Someone had planned to take his wife's dragon. Someone meant to attack her. Someone did this. Someone did this. Someone had just killed his baby.

An anger unlike any other fueled him. He squeezed the spring into his hand, crushing it until it snapped into several pieces and then threw across the room. He watched them clink and shatter against the floor. Still not satisfied, he turned and punched a hole straight through the wall. Splinters penetrated his skin, but he didn't care. He punched again, but didn't break through the wall this time. So he punched again. And again. And Again, until Gobber finally pulled him away and tossed him in the middle of the floor.

"That's enough of that," he said sternly. Hiccup covered his face in his hands again, barely hearing what the older man had to say. He just sat there rocking back and forth, trapped inside himself again. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Gobber motioning to the bed. Astrid had awakened. Hiccup stood up a slowly began walking towards her.

"Hiccup?" Astird asked. "What's happening?"

"Ast-" Hiccup couldn't even make out her full name.

Astrid began sitting up, and then noticed she was bleeding. "Wha-no! No, no, no! Hiccup, do something!"

Hearing his wife screaming, Hiccup finally broke free enough to rush to her side and held her close.

"Sh. Sh. Sh. Sh," he whispered.

"Hiccup, do something, the baby-"

"There's nothing I can do," Hiccup said, tears now, finally, beginning to fall.

"But, the baby-"

"There's nothing we can do."

"No…"

"It's gone, Astrid," Hiccup finally acknowledged. "It's gone."

Astrid let out a sorrowful scream and began sobbing. Hiccup's heart ached more and more with each of her cries, his own tears soaking her hair. Astrid let out a loud, pained scream. Gothi approached Astrid with a cup.

"She wants Astrid to drink this," Gobber explained. "It will help the pain."

"Pain?" Hiccup asked.

"It's going to hurt for a while, but only a few hours. Then it will be over."

Gobber was trying to be comforting, but it didn't work. It wouldn't be over soon. It would never be over.

 **IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

They were home now. In their bed. Just holding each other. Not saying anything. Just holding each other. The bleeding had stopped. The physical pain was gone. But the real pain…

Astrid had her head on his chest, one hand laying on his shoulder, the other rested on her now childless stomach. Hiccup had his arms around her waist, his face buried in her hair.

"I'm sorry," Astrid finally whispered.

"What?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I'm so sorry this…"

"Sh," Hiccup hushed, and held her tighter, kissing her hair. "It's not your fault. None of this is your fault."

Astrid began crying again and buried her face into his shirt. Hiccup stroked her hair and held her close.

"It's not your fault," he repeated. "You're going to be okay."

"No, I'm not," Astrid sobbed.

"Yes, you will," Hiccup answered. "We're going to make it."

Astrid shook her head.

"We will," Hiccup assured her again. "Somehow we will."


	16. We Are Not Weak

We're Not Weak:

 **AN:** **Quick reminders: Torinth is a healer. Thistle is Fishlegs and Heather's youngest daughter.**

"Ouch! Let go of me! Please let go!" Thistle cried as the young ambassador of a visiting village dragged her towards the Great Hall. She clawed at his hand with her chubby fingers, trying to free her rave locks he had an iron grip on, tugging it until chunks fell out and her scalp grew moist with blood. As the ambassador busted in the Great Hall, he threw her into the middle of the floor.

"Who are you savages that think you can send a little girl to order me, a decorated warrior, to do your bidding?" he boomed only to find that the hall was empty but for the exception of an auburn haired teen boy and a blond little girl.

Thistle trembled and held her throbbing head as she heard a pitter-patter of feet running towards her.

"Thistle, are you okay?" Jiniva asked as she knelt to her friend's side. "That looks bad. Go to Torinth, he'll fix you up. He's over there," Jiniva pointed the sniffling girl in the direction of her brother, who was already heading towards her, a rag in hand. He set her on one of the tables and applied the wet rage to the bald and bleeding area as he began pulling small packets of herbs out of his pockets and mixing them up in bowls with water.

Jiniva stood to her feet and charged towards the young man with his nose turned up in the air.

"Hey, why'd you hurt her? What did she do to you?"

"Excuse you," he sneered as he lightly shoved her aside. "Children only speak when spoken to."

"I'm the chief's daughter, I'll say what I want when I want!" Jiniva crossed her arms and stood up as tall as she could at ten years old. "What did Thistle do to you that made you yank her bald?"

"Being the chief's daughter does not give you any extra priviledges, little girl."

"Don't patronize me!" Jiniva snapped. At the ambassadors shocked look she replied, "Yeah, I can use words. Why'd you hurt her?"

"She has no right to order me about, and you have no right to pester me, chief's daughter or not, now go away."

"This is my village, I go where I want. And I'm not just the chief's daughter, doofus. I ride a Night Fury, I'm a dragon warrior in training, and I'm on fire duty, maeing I put out all the fires idiots like you start. I pull my weight. I say my piece. And Thistle wasn't ordering you about, she was just telling you my dad was getting ready to meet you in the Great Hall, but now that you're acting like a butt, I don't think he's going to be too happy with you."

"You're the ones behaving out of line, not me. Honestly, what is this world coming to, children thinking they have right to bother adults when they are working through important business."

A loud "thunk" came from the table where Torinth was done patching up Thistle's head. The arguing duo turned to see Torinth signing away furious, a deep frown on his face.

"Oh, don't tell me they let an invalid in here," the ambassador sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face. A dull pain overwhelmed his stomach as he looked down to find Jiniva's fist burrowing itself into his abdomen.

"Don't talk about my brother like that!"

"How dare you!" The ambassador screeched as he swung at her. Jiniva dodged the blow with ease. And the ambassador growled.

"Impudent brat!" he screeched. "I suppose I'll have to teach you a cold, hard lesson you won't forget," he pulled out his sword. "I'll leave you a scar that will remind you not to step out of place ever agai-"

He swung down-

-and with a loud 'clink' his sword flew out of his hand and bounced against the floor. The ambassador turned and saw Torinth holding out his own blade to block Jiniva. His eyes were a blue flame of anger as he stared the ambassador down.

"Oh what do you want, invalid?"

"I said don't-"

Torinth set a comforting hand on Jiniva's hand then took a step back and gestured to the ambassador's sword with the tip of his, a sly grin on his face.

"Do you honestly think a societal burden such your self is any match for me?"

Jiniva began snickering from behind the two men and eagerly raced to find a seat next to Thistle. Torinth's sly grin only widened as he politely nodded. The ambassador smirked as he picked up his sword and took his position. Torinth seemed perfectly relaxed, with one hand tucked behind his back as he waited fro the first move. They stood like that a while, each taunting the other into moving first.

Finally, Torinth tapped the opposing blade with the tip of his. The ambassador tapped back, then tried to take a swing at Torinth. He dodged with out even changing his facial expression. They assumed their taunting stalemate again, the ambassador seemed to be concentrating more, but Torinth was just as relaxed as before.

The ambassador lunged for Torinth's leg. He blocked it. The ambassador went for his shoulder. Torinth blocked it. He swung for the face. Torinth dodged then to a stab toward the ambassador's shoulder. The stab was blocked, but rather than step back and go on the defense, or take a stab at another area, Torinth flicked his wrist and knocked the opponent off balance. As the ambassador tilted towards one side, Torinth swung towards his leg, but was blocked again. He jabbed towards the chest, but was blocked once more, barely. He graze the ambassador's slightly exposed collar bone just enough to draw a drop of didn't seem to be excited, frustrated, or even worn. He still maintained his relaxed and cool posture from before.

The same could not be said for the opponent. The ambassador was raging now and began to increase the power and force behind his attacks. He made a particularly ferocious swing at Torinth's foot, but the teenager simply jumped out of the way and onto one of the tables. The ambassador jumped up after him and went to charge again, but Torinth side stepped, allowing his opponent to tumble to the ground.

Enraged at the laughing of the two young girls in the room, the ambassador jumped to his feet and whirled about-

-to find two swords pointed at him, one at the gut and the other at the throat. It was only then he realized that his sword was gone, and clutched in Torinth's hand.

"B-b-b-but, how? Wha-"

Torinth only smirked in delicious victory.

"What is going on here?" an authoritative voice boomed.

Everyone turned to find the chief and his entire council standing in the doorway. Torinth's smirk disappeared as he stood down, hiding both swords behind his back as he ducked his head in embarrassment and fear. Completely nonparticipant in her older brother's wariness, Jiniva hopped to her feet and ran over to her father.

"That guy who came to talk to you hurt Thistle, he dragged her here by her hair and pulled it out-"

"He what?!" Heather hissed as she pulled out double axe. Fishlegs let out a horrified screech and raced to where Thistle still sat.

"Oh, my poor baby! What did he do to you, Thistly-Whistly? Tell Daddy where the boo-boos are!"

"-and then," Jiniva continued. "He got mad at me for asking why he hurt it, which turned out to be a stupid reason, he didn't like kids telling him what to do, which Thistle wasn't even doing, she was just giving him a heads up that the meeting was starting. Anywho, then he started yelling at me because children apparently aren't allowed to talk anymore, and I was yelling at him for hurting Thistle, then he started calling Torinth ugly names so I punched him, then he tried to cut me to teach me a lesson, or put me in place, or some other silliness, but Torinth stopped him, then they started fighting. Torinth won, obviously, and then you came in, and now you're going to drop the hammer on him. Right?"

Hiccup didn't say anything for a long time, he simply took in the scene in front of him, rubbing his chin. His eyes darted from the ambassador, to Jiniva, back to the ambassador, to Torinth, to the ambassador, to Thistle, and back again, with each exchange the green of his eyes growing less and less like a gentle meadow, and more and more like a fiery emerald. From behind him, Astrid gathered Jiniva close to her and glared at the ambassador, the same blue flames that had overpowered her son's eyes earlier now engulfed hers.

"Is this true?" Hiccup finally asked.

"Chief Hiccup, your grace, allow me to explain. I was simply trying to instruct these children on proper behavior and to leave things that do not concern them al-"

"Things that do not concern them?" Hiccup asked in a slow, powerful voice. "I'm sorry, but this matter involves all three of the young people here. You see, these two young ladies were to be the page girls for this event, and that young man is my heir and the next chief of Berk. Therefore, I have been allowing him to sit in on my meetings so that he can one day run them for himself."

The ambassador blinked several times as he stood slack jawed, Hiccup eyeing him down with silent and firm condemnation. Fishlegs shuffled passed them, carrying Thistle in his arms. He whispered something to Astrid. She nodded and let him take Jiniva and lead her out of the Great Hall, Heather following them. Astrid then waited with the rest of the council for the ambassador's answer.

"Forgive me, your grace, I was unaware. If I may be so bold, though, isn't unwise to involve children in such formalities. They're so…well, unruly and-"

"Forgive me, kind sir," Hiccup interrupted in mock sarcasm, everyone chuckling slightly behind him. "But I think you would do better with a little less boldness."

"My apologies, I was merely pointing out-"

"A flaw that doesn't exist," Hiccup finished.

"-they're lack of knowledge of their place."

"Knowledge. Of. Their. Place?" Each word fell like a fainting Gronkle onto the already tense atmosphere. Murmurs began to rumble through the crowd behind the chief. Torinth hunched himself into a corner. He'd only seen his father this angry once or twice, and when he got done with the ambassador and decided to speak to him about the events of that afternoon…

…Torinth got the feeling that it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.

"The only one who is out of place here, young man, is you," Hiccup bellowed as he took two steps towards the ambassador, towering over him. "Those two girl's jobs were to deliver messages and run errands. They did just that. The boy's job was to learn how to be chief. Protecting those who are in danger, and helping those who are hurt are two parts of being chief, so I think he's done well. You on the other just attacked not only two of my children, but you attacked two of my councilmember's daughter. Therefore-"

He pulled out a scroll and held it at arm's length. A majestic Night Fury swooped in a set the scroll a blaze. Hiccup dropped it and let it disintegrate into ashes on the ground.

"-I see no reason in even having this meeting. You can tell your village that we will not be considering trade or partnership with them, because a partnership with a village who is dull enough to not realize the importance of children or humility is something that will only tear Berk down."

"But sir-"

"You're excused to prepare for the trip home," Hiccup waved his hand nonchalantly as he seated himself at the head table, propped his feet, or foot, onto the wooden surface, and began to pretend to examine his fingernails. "You're going to need it. I assume the discussion you'll be having upon riding home is going to be very, shall we say, emotionally taxing?"

"But we can offer you treasures! Jewels! Riches!"

Hiccup pretended not to hear, and picked up a mug of mead. "Well, no need to let this go to waste," he muttered to himself as he took a long swig.

"Did you hear me? Treasures! Treasures beyond your wildest dreams!"

Hiccup set the mug down and shook his head. "Not interested. A Valkyrie has already been given the five greatest treasures a man could ask for. You wouldn't understand, though."

Astrid grinned as she took her seat at her husband's right side, and Hiccup gave her a quick wink before turning back to the ambassador.

"Odin grant you safe passage home. Now move along, I have some other matters I'd like to discuss with my council since we're already here, might as well. But I can't do that until you're gone, so good-bye."

"But-"

"C'mon you blubbering fool," Gobber sighed as he hoisted the ambassador to his feet and began to lead him out.

"Oh, and one more thing," Hiccup called after him. "If you're going to try and impress us with your skills, if you can even call them that, don't get into a sword match with the best swordsman on Berk. Now get out of my Great Hall."

Gobber all but dumped the ambassador out of the front door and slammed it behind him.

"And this is why dragons wanted to kill us for all those years," the elderly Viking scoffed as he made his way to his seat, everyone chuckling.

Hiccup snickered at the joke and then motioned for Torinth to come to him. Torinth held his breath as he scuffled to his father's side, head down.

"How badly did you humiliate him?" Hiccup asked once Torinth had knelt next to his father's chair. The teenager shrugged and began fidgeting nervously.

"Well, let me see if I can guess. You cut him once just to make him mad, then somehow got him to knock himself over, and then stole his sword without him even knowing it, and all under five minutes, didn't you?"

Torinth hesitated before nodding slowly.

Hiccup nodded slowly. "Y'know, as chief, I can't endorse any harm done to any political guests."

Torinth nodded again, wincing slightly.

"But, I'm also your father, so I've gotta say…" he paused for dramatic affect before grinning and ruffling Torinth's hair. "That's my boy! And he did harm Thistle and try to cut your sister, so, I don't think I'll get in trouble for letting you slide this time. There's cake at the back of the hall, help yourself."

Torinth grinned and rushed off, Hiccup chuckling as he disappeared. The excitement aside, he turned to his now seated and awaiting council.

"Now, first order of business, Eret I know it was you who left the fish bones in my saddlebag last week."

"I have no idea what you're talking about…"


	17. First Night as Daddy

First Night as Daddy:

The wind howled outside the little hut on Dragon's Edge, but no one inside noticed. Three of the inhabitants were fast asleep, but one was wide awake, unable to go to sleep after the events of the night. Hiccup was sitting up in the bed, his back leaned against headboard, a baby resting on each thigh, an arm guarding their sides to keep them from rolling off.

Annly and Torinth were curled up against each other, one of Torinth's hands resting on his sister's cheek. Hiccup just watched them. Watched their tiny chests rise and fall with each tiny breath. Every now and then one of them would grunt, or twitch a leg or finger in their sleep. Hiccup couldn't stop smiling as he watched them, stroking their tiny heads with his thumbs, smoothing the hair that was identical to his.

His hair. Astrid's eyes. Annly had Astrid's chin and lips. Torinth had his. They were tiny little mixtures of him and Astrid, and they were amazing. When he said tiny, though, he meant tiny. His hand could completely cover Annly's entire torso. While Torinth was slightly bigger, only the tops of his shoulders could be seen barely poking over his father's fingertips when Hiccup placed his hand on his infant son's tummy.

They were so small. So helpless. They couldn't walk. Couldn't talk. They could even roll over yet. They were entirely dependent on him and Astrid to take care of them. The weight of the responsibility that was be thrust on him was suddenly starting to hit Hiccup, and he drew up is knees to bring his children closer to him so he could protect them better from whatever dangers filled the tiny room at night.

Torinth stretched and slowly opened his eyes at the movement. He blinked and looked up at Hiccup with a gaze of innocent recognition. Hiccup's heat ached at the sight. He was barely three hours old, but Torinth already knew who his father was…

…and already knew who was responsible for taking care of him, because within seconds his face squinted up and he began to cry.

"Uh-oh. Sh. Sh. Sh," Hiccup gently bounced his leg in an attempt to quiet him down. "What's the matter?"

Astrid mumbled something next to him as she awoke and began to sit up.

"What?" Hiccup asked, not catching what she's said.

"He's hungry," Astrid repeated as she leaned back against the headboard and reached over for this little boy.

"How do you know?" Hiccup asked as he helped his wife take the boy from him, a little regretfully.

"I just do," Astrid replied, opening her shirt and holding the little boy to her chest. Hiccup watched them with sheer wonder. This was only Astrid third? Fourth? Already he's lost count, but he knew there hadn't been many feeding sessions, yet she was already a pro at it. Classic Astrid. He smiled as he watched his wife coo to the little baby as he ate, running her thumb over his back in a comforting manner.

She was amazing. Everything about her. Without warning she'd gone into labor after thinking she'd lost their child, and then had to endure the excruciating pain of giving birth to not one, but two babies in a rickety old shack. And now she had taken up motherhood as if she was an old hand at it.

He was broken out of his trance, when Annly began to fuss, still lying in his lap.

"Uh-oh, what's wrong?" he asked, bouncing his legs again. "Are you hungry too?"

"Shouldn't be," Astrid answered sleepily.

Annly began crying harder, this was a cry he hadn't heard from either child before, but it made his heart ache. She was scared. He didn't know how he knew, but somehow she just did. She'd spent the past nine months squished up against Torinth, but now that he was gone, and she was lying in the open without anything holding her, or wrapping her up, or, well, squishing her. She was scared. Hiccup scooped her into his arms and held her tight against his chest. He began to rock her back and forth and pat her back.

"Sh, there now, you're alright. Your brother will be back in a minute. You're safe. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

Annly grew quiet as she snuggled against Hiccup's chest, trying to grab onto his shirt with her tiny hands. Hiccup set one of his fingers in her palm, and that seemed to satisfy her. She quieted down and drifted off back to sleep.

Astrid finished feeding Torinth and set him in the bed between her and Hiccup before reaching over to run a finger over where her daughter's hand was clutched around her father's finger.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Daddy's gonna take care good of you," she whispered.

Hiccup smiled at her, then pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Annly's head.

Daddy.

He was a Daddy.

Astrid carefully pried the little girl away from her father and set her next to her brother on the bed. Kissing both of the baby's heads, she reached out and cupped Hiccup's face in her hand.

"You need to sleep," she told him.

"I can't," he answered. "Too much has happened for me to go to sleep."

"Well, I somehow managed," Astrid scoffed.

"You have a good reason to be exhausted," Hiccup chuckled as he gripped her hand, guided it from his cheek to his lips and kissed her fingertips. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Astrid smiled. "But you still need rest."

"Okay," Hiccup sighed. "I'll try, for you."

"Thank you, babe," Astrid snuggled back under the covers and fell asleep right away. Hiccup chuckled slightly at her. He understood now why it was customary on Berk for a mother to spend a week in bed after birth. They deserved it. He lied down on his side, and let his gaze wander from one member of his little family to the other, heart swelling with pride and joy at the sight of each of them.

It was strange. Just a few years ago he was a single guy who wanted nothing more than to fly around on Toothless all day exploring. But now he was a chief, a husband, and a father, and he couldn't be happier. He didn't even mind that he had to give up exploring everyday. If he had to, he'd wake every morning for the rest of his life and take on The Red Death, Viggo, and Drago at the same time, by himself, with one arm tied behind his back and without his prosthetic leg if it meant keeping his family safe.

And he wouldn't even mind.


	18. All Aboard the SS Jadinth

**All aboard the S.S. Jadinth!**

 **A/N: This is me. Shamelessly shipping two of my OC's. Anyways, enjoy! P.S. The cover pic is of Jadis.**

 **Torinth: Just turned 16**

 **Jadis: 15 ½**

Everyone on Berk knew Torinth had the most tempermental dargon on Berk. Whoever had thought that breeding a Night Fury and a Scrill together was clearly mental, but by some miracle Torinth had been able to train the devil spawn…somewhat…

Though the purple and black beast now somewhat lovingly called Quibbles had learned to become docile towards Torinth and allow the boy to ride him that was it! He barely let anyone else touch him, much less ride him!

There were advantages to that, though…

…if you were Torinth.

It gave you a legitimate reason to take alone flights without younger siblings begging to ride along behind you. Annly would forever claim that had always been Torinth's plan when the two had reached the appropriate age to earn a dragon. To get a dragon only he could ride to keep the younger three out of his hair. To which he'd always respond "Maybe?"

Either way, he was enjoying it now. Sailing high above the clouds, letting the wind whip in his face and hair, taking him into a whole new world away from responsibilities, away from chores, away from people giving him snaring glances whenever they saw him because he was deaf. Up here he was free. Free to be a freak and enjoy it along with his equally freakish dragon, who kept a perfectly straight face throughout all the loopty-doos, and even yawning on a free fall.

Torinth gently smacked him on the side of the neck, signing "kill-joy" to him, to which Quibbles responded by giving his rider a very light shock. Torinth glared at him, and he let out a rumbling chuckle.

As they descended just below the clouds, Torinth was caught off guard by the sight of a strange ship. He squinted to get a better view, and instead saw a series of arrows headed straight towards them. Quibbles quickly ducked and gave a vibrating call that warned Torinth to jump and use his wing-suit to keep himself air-born just long enough for Quibbles to send a devastating shock to the ship, followed by several plasma blasts. He then returned to pick up his gliding rider and take off back to the clouds. They flew a little ways longer until they could safely descend to a nearby island, out of the ship's sight.

The minute they touched down, Torinth began examining his dragon to see if he had any wounds. Quibbles was perfectly fine, yet Torinth couldn't shake the feeling that someone was hurt. He examined his dragon again, to which Quibbles grumbled annoyed. Torinth scratched the back of his head. Someone was hurt. If it wasn't Quibbles and it wasn't him, then who…

Quibbles perked up and began growling. Torinth withdrew his sword and whilred around to see what the danger was, only to find the familiar face of a certain raven-haired girl peeking over one of the island's many boulders. Torinth smiled, put his sword away and waved to Jadis, motioning for Quibbles to stand down with his other hand.

Jadis, seeing that it was just Torinth, sighed in relief and climbed out from behind the rock to head to them. As she approached, Torinth noticed she was limping. So that's who was hurt. He raced to her, holding his arms out and signing "hurt?"

"Just my leg," Jadis answered. "One of the arrows grazed me. I'm fine, but it got Hothead pretty bad."

Torinth shrugged as if to ask "where is he?"

Jadis led him and his grumbling dragon to a nearby cave where Torinth saw a whining and whimpering Snafflefang. He gently reached out his hand to the purple and gold dragon, and Hothead nuzzled his palm. He then began to examine the dragon over, and found that the arrow had torn a gaping hole in his right wing.

He nodded decidedly and walked back to get his medical quit from Quibble's saddle bag. He returned in due time and began hunting through it until he found a needle, which he sterilized using Quibble's flame, and threaded it.

"Calm him," he signed to Jadis as he approached the torn wing. Jadis nodded and knelt in front of her dragon, pulling his head into her lap.

"Hey, big fella," she called. "Things are going to get a little crazy in a minute, so please behave."

Torinth made the first stitch, and Hothead groaned loudly, thrashing his whole body in pain.

"That's not behaving!" Jadis scolded as she tried to get him to sit still.

Quibbles sighed, unimpressed, from where he lay on the rocks outside the cave. Jadis finally got Hothead to calm down, and Torinth made the second stitch, only to have the Snafflefang react in equal agony.

"Oh for Thor's sake!" Jadis sighed. "You eat crystals, but you can't handle a needle?"

This battle continued until Torinth successfully got five stitches in to patch the whole. He returned, in a sweat to Quibbles, who blow a smoke ring into the boy's face just for spite. Torinth glared at him and gave a sign his parents would most likely not have approved of had they been there. Jadis only rolled her eyes.

"Boys!"

Torinth came back and began signing to Jadis.

"Good for flying, but not with rider."

Jadis bit her lip as she looked at the patched wing. "So what do we do?"

Torinth tapped his foot as he thought. "We need to get news home."

"How? Hothead can't carry me, and Quibbles won't let anyone but you ride him."

Quibbles growled in confirmation and Torinth shot him a glare before drifting back into thought.

"Note?" he finally signed.

Jadis thought for a while, then shrugged. "Worth a shot."

Torinth whipped out a notebook from his saddle bag and began to scribble onto it. He the stuck it to Hothead's saddle and Jadis told her dragon to head back to Berk.

"You should go with him," she told Torinth once Hothead had left. "No need for you to just wait around here."

"No. You have no protection without him. We are staying."

"That's nice, but you don't have to-"

"We want to."

Quibbles blew another smoke ring at Torinth in annoyance.

"Yes you do!" he signed to his dragon.

Quibbles stuck his tongue out at him and sauntered off.

"He will come back," Torinth signed assuringly to Jadis.

"Really, though," Jadis ducked her head. "You don't-"

She caught Torinth signing something out of the corner of her eye, but didn't see clearly enough to know what it was.

"What? Didn't catch that. Sorry."

"Leg." Torinth signed again, pointing to her injury.

"It's nothing. Just a scratch," she assured him, but he shook his head to let her know he wasn't buying that. He turned to get his medical kit back out of Quibbles bag, but then remembered the dragon had taken off. Rolling his eyes, he charged after him. He returned a few minutes later, and the proceeded to clean the gash along her calf with an herbal mix. He finished tying off the cloth and helped her roll her leggings back down. She reached for her boot, but he caught it two seconds before she did and gently slid it back on her foot for her.

"Th-thanks. You didn't have to do that," she said, a slight blush forming under her face, half of which was invisible behind her long bangs.

"You got hurt. I am a healer. What am I supposed to do?" Torinth asked, arching an eyebrow as his hands signed away.

"Not just that. I mean staying with me and…putting my shoe on for my."

Torinth shrugged as if to say "no big deal."

He settled against the cave wall next to her and, set his hands behind his head in a relaxing position. Jadis twirled a strand of hair that always fell out of the two mess buns she had on either side of her head (she wasn't good with doing hair.)

"So, what are you doing all the way out here?' she asked. Torinth didn't respond. He'd had his eyes close. Jadis hugged her knees to her chest awkwardly. Should she poke him? Tap him on the shoulder? Leave him be?

Thankfully, Torinth cracked on eye open to see what she was fidgeting about.

"Wh-what are you doing out here?"

"Flying."

"Why?"

"Fun."

"Oh."

"You?"

"Fishing," Jadis answered. "This is where the migrations are this time of year."

"By yourself?" Torinth signed, sitting up a bit surprised. Jadis blushed.

"Well…someone's gotta do it. Dad and Grampa have been eating at the Great Hall lately, so they haven't noticed food getting low."

"Still. Alone?" Torinth looked concerned. "What if something like…" he paused for a while, then shrugged. "Something like this happened. They know where you are?"

"No."

"They are going to be worried when you gone all night."

Jadis shook her head. "Nah. I've been out all night before."

"They never worry?" Torinth looked shock.

Jadis shrugged. "I always come back."

"So? Being alone out here is dangerous."

"I can take care of myself."

"Not the point."

"You're out here on your on."

"My parents know where I am. They can look for me. Yours can't."

Jadis fidgeted slightly again. "So what if I don't come back. Dad and Grampa survived before me, they'll be fine."

"Stop that," if sign language could have been shouted, Torinth was shouting just now.

"Stop what?"

"That talk."

"It's true," Jadis shrugged, twirling her hair again.

"No. If you died it would break their hearts."

"No it wouldn't," Jadis chuckled sadly, looking down.. "They never wanted me. Grampa wanted a grandson, and Dad never wanted kids."

"Not true." Torinth signed, before realizing she couldn't see his hands. He set two fingers under her chin and turned her face to look at him. "Not true. You know that."

Jadis shrugged. "No. Not really."

"Well, I would be sad if you died. My family too."

Jadis gave Torinth a small smile. "Thanks." She sighed again. "But if it happened you'd move on. It wouldn't change anything."

"How do you know?" Torinth smiled reassuringly at her and patted her shoulder. Jadis picked up a small rock and began twirling it in her hands.

"Do your parents always know where you are going?"

"They are supposed to. I forget to tell them sometimes."

Jadis nodded. "Of course they do. You're the heir."

"So?" Torinth signed.

"You're important."

"So are you."

"Sure, whatever, but everyone likes you."

Torinth laughed. It was a noise Jadis always loved to hear, though she never admitted it. It was full of life and joy.

"No. Some people hate me. Think I will destroy Berk when I am chief."

"No you won't."

"They say so. I will be the worse chief ever. I will make every stupid mistake in the book. I will be weak and pathetic."

"Why?" Jadis asked, suddenly feeling a bit angry.

"Deaf," Torinth pointed to his ears in emphasis.

"So? You're the best swordsman on Berk. You're an excellent healer. You're the leader of the young riders!"

"Me and Annly, but, yes," Torinth agreed.

"That's just stupid," Jadis shook her head. "You're gonna be a great chief. You're actually going somewhere."

"And you?" Torinth asked.

Jadis shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not. I'll probably just stay and take care of my dad and granddad."

"Do you want to?"

Jadis shifted uneasily. "To be honest. No, but I have to."

"Why?"

"Because they're my family. And it's not like I'm ever going to get married."

"Why?"

Jadis sniffed angrily and rolled her eyes. "Look at me. 'Beauty' isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind. I can't fix my hair. See this?" she held up the strand she'd been playing with. "Doesn't matter what I do, it falls out. And my eyes? Grey? Whoever heard about a beautiful grey-eyed girl? Blue or green sure, but grey? Nu-uh. And I'm not a skinny model, or a buff warrior. I'm just stuck in between. Yeah, real appealing!"

Tointh nervously drummed on his chin as he tried to think of what to say. Jadis noticed his discomfort, and shrugged good naturedly, bumping his shoulder with hers.

"But, it's fine. I guess I could always be a shield maiden or something, don't worry about me."

Torinth picked his hands up, then brought them back under his chin, drumming his fingers on his knuckles. He then stood up and picked his notebook up, scribbling in it. Jadis lifted an eyebrow curiously until he ripped out the page, handed it to her, and then raced out of the cave. Jadis arched an eyebrow, confused, then began to read:

 _To be honest, I always think you're really pretty. I'm not that into skinny girls (reminds me too much of my mom and sisters. Weird!) And buff girls scare me! I like the in between you've got going on. Hope that's not creepy to say. And as for grey eyes, well, you want to know why everyone tells Annly Miss Chief is the most beautiful dragon they've ever seen? Because she's unique. They've never seen a white Night Fury before. So, just because you never hear of beautiful woman with grey eyes in stories doesn't mean you aren't beautiful. It just means you're unique, which is even more beautiful than regular beautiful. And, even though I like your hair the way it is, I do have three sisters and have done hair before, I could help you do something with that strand if you want me to._

 _I hope none of this is coming off as creepy. Just thought I'd let you know._

Torinth suddenly jumped down into view of the mouth of the cave from somewhere on the top, and shyly walked to her. In his hand he held a rose.

A grey rose.

"Where'd you find that?" Jadis asked in wonder as she took it from him and smelled it.

"Outside. Dad showed me once. They only grow here."

Jadis grinned. "And you thought you'd get me one because they're grey. Just driving home your point about being unique, right?"

Torinth shrugged shyly.

Jadis stood up and came closer to him. "Thank you, Torinth. Really," she said, blushing. "And if you think you can fix this strand of hair, you're welcome to-"

Before she could finished, he clasped the strand in his hair and began twisting and turning it. Within seconds, he'd woven it into a tight braid that hung elegantly over her shoulder. She held it to her eyes for examination, and smiled.

"Never thought of that," she said, smile growing wider as she looked back at the rose. "This was really sweet, you didn't have to-"

"Forget it. No problem," Torinth signed.

A Night Fury called, and Toothless, Hiccup, Snotlout, and Hookfang could be seen flying towards them.

"Jadis, what are you doing out here?" Snotlout demanded to know upon landing.

"I was fishing, we're low on food."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I did."

"It's alright," Hiccup cut in. "As long as the two of you are safe."

Torinth nodded, and signed. "Ship?"

"No, it was gone when we got here," Hiccup answered. "We'll go looking for it later, right now let's get you two home."

"Come on, Jadis," Snotlout called as he headed back towards Hookfang.

Her father's back turned, Jadis smiled up at Torinth.

"Thanks for keeping me company, and, everything else," she shyly spoke.

Torinth was about to sign for her to forget it again, when she put her hand on his shoulder, stood up on her toes, and kissed his cheek. His eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped open as she raced to her father's side and climbed up on Hookfang behind him.

Torinth watched them go in wonder, a hand reaching up to brush the place her lips had touched seconds earlier. A wide grin spread on his face, a grin that immediately faded when he found that his own father was staring at him with a smug grin and an arched eyebrow.

"Is there something you want to tell me, son?" Hiccup asked.

Torinth blushed and signed. "No."

"Uh-huh," Hiccup was not convinced. "You and I might need to have a talk when we get home…"

"Dad, please, no!"


	19. I Still Can't Imagine

I Still Can't Imagine:

"Stop pushing! Stop pushing!" the midwife screamed.

"Wha-" Astrid tried to ask through the pain.

"Something is wrong, stop pushing," the midwife answered.

Hiccup felt his whole body grow cold as he let go of Astrid's hand and walked over to stand next to the midwife.

"What's going on?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"The baby's upside down," the midwife explained.

Hiccup's stomach churned into knots. He looked down, and instead of seeing the feathery top of a baby's head, he saw a pair of tiny feet. This wasn't good. This was horrible, actually. This killed women and babies.

"W-w-w-well, do something!" Hiccup stuttered, shaking. "Can't you do anything?"

"I can, but it's going to be painful, and dangerous. Very dangerous."

"What is it?" Hiccup whispered.

"Can I push now!?" Astrid begged.

"No, whatever you do, don't push!" the midwife called before turning back to Hiccup. "I'll have to push the baby back inside her and turn it around."

"Isn't that-"

"Dangerous? Painful? Yes, babies aren't meant to go back inside," the midwife answered. "But if I don't do something, they'll both die."

Hiccup gasped slightly, then nodded slowly. "Okay, do it."

"Go to you're wife," the midwife said. "She'll need you."

Hiccup raced to Astrid, who was straining with all her might to not give into the instinct to push. Hiccup took her hand in his, kissing the top of it.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked.

"It's going to be alright," Hiccup assured her. "You're-"

"Alright, Astrid, get ready," the midwife called.

"Get ready for wha-" Astrid started, and then she erupted into a loud, bone-shattering scream. Hiccup's entire body shivered. This was a scream he'd never heard before from anyone, ever. It came again, and again, and again, as Astrid shook and twisted in the bed, writhing from the pain.

"Odin help me!" She screeched. "Hiccup make it stop! Stop it! STOP IT!"

"Okay, Astrid, you can push now," the midwife called.

"I can't…what…what's going…I can't…" Astrid sobbed.

"You have to push, Astrid this baby isn't going to come on it's own."

Astrid leaned forward as she pushed, but screamed all the louder.

"Oh, Thor! Make it stop!"

"Astrid, you've got to push, nothing's happening."

"I can't! This hurts! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

"Come on, push?"

Her skin grew paler, and paler as the labor went on. Hiccup felt himself shaking, and trembling. This had never happened with ay of the other labors.

"It's a boy!" the midwife finally called as she lifted a tiny baby with very bloody hands. Hiccup couldn't even be happy about his new son's birth, because as he went to see the baby, he found a puddle of blood dripping off the end of the bed.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Hic-Hic, wha-" Hiccup turned to his snowy white wife just in time to see her eyes roll into the back of her head, and collapsed against the bed.

"Astrid!" Hiccup ran to his wife's side and pulled her into his arms. Her skin was clammy, her breath was shallow, and she was completely unresponsive.

"Astrid? Astrid! Wake up!"

"Chief!" Hiccup turned to the sound, and the midwife pulled him off the bed by the scruff of his tunic, shoved the baby into his arms, and pushed him out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, wait!" Hiccup tried to push the door back open, but it was locked.

"Hey, let me in! Astrid! _Astrid!"_ He banged his fist on the door, trying to get in.

"Hiccup?"

Valka appeared in the hall and walked to Hiccup's side.

"What's going-" she caught sight of the baby. "Oh, look at you! You little wee darli-!"

"Astrid passed out," Hiccup answered. "He was upside down, and they had to turn him, and she was bleeding everywhere, and screaming, and something's wrong, and they won't let me in! I need to be in there with her!"

Valka's eyes grew wide. "Oh, dear."

"Mom, what's happening? What did she do to Astrid?"

"It's going to be okay," Valka set a hand on her son's shoulders as she scooped her grandson into her more stable embrace with the other arm. "Astrid's a strong woman, she'll pull through this."

Hiccup tugged at his hair. "Mom. The blood. There was so much blood! And she was screaming, I-I-I-"

"Hiccup, you've got to pull yourself together, the children can hear you," Valka warned.

That caught Hiccup's attention, and he quieted down, but he didn't cheer up, only collapsed to the floor, covering his face in his hands. Valka just stood there, watching him. She wanted to comfort him, to tell him it would be okay. But she couldn't. She didn't know.

"I'm going to bring this little one to meet his brother and sisters. Torinth will be thrilled."

Hiccup only nodded. He sat there for what seemed like hours. Waiting next to his bedroom door, tapping his feet on the ground, and holding his face in his hand. After a while the midwife came out, wiping her hands on a towel. Hiccup jumped to his feet and raced to her side.

"Astrid, is she-"

"Still unconscious," the midwife stated. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm afraid I might have torn something while I was turning the babe, which was the source of her bleeding and unconsciousness. I've managed to stop the bleeding, but…"

"But what?" Hiccup asked.

The midwife took a deep breath again, "I've done everything I can. It's up to her now."

Hiccup's body grew cold again. "What do you mean by that…?"

"I've seen many a girl come back from this. But I've also seen several girls die from this. She might wake up, but she may not."

Hiccup stumbled back and struggled to regain his balance.

"You can go see her now if you want," the midwife offered. Hiccup nodded numbly and entered into the bedroom. Astrid lay on the bed, pale, lifeless. Shallow breaths escaping her every now and then. Hiccup walked to the bed. He pulled Astrid into his arms, leaned his forehead on hers.

"M'lady? Astrid?"

Nothing.

"Astrid, please wake up."

Nothing.

"Astrid?" tears rolled down his cheeks. "Pleas. Please, m'lady, wake up. Please. I don't want to lose you. I _can't_ lose you."

He kissed her forehead, and broke down. Tears soaking Astrid's hair where he buried his face.

"Astrid, please. I know I'm an adult now, I know I'm the chief, but I still can't imagine a world without you in it."


	20. I'm Scared

I'm Scared:

Of course it had crossed Astrid's mind that she might have been pregnant again. The grogginess and nausea was very similar to when she'd first found out she was pregnant with the twins. Furthermore, she and Hiccup hadn't exactly been well, um…avoiding the possibility of another pregnancy, especially now that the twins had moved out of the master bedroom for good.

Still, she tried to push the thought out of her mind. After all, there was no proof that she was pregnant. She was just sleepy and sickish, it could have just been a bug, or maybe she was just feeling sluggish just…just because. Then her cycle was a week late. Then two weeks. Then three. One trip to Gothi's later and it was confirmed, she was expecting another little Haddock.

Anyone else in her situation would have been overjoyed, but Astrid? She was terrified. So much had gone wrong with her first pregnancy. A near miscarriage. Four months of not knowing she was pregnant, and doing and eating things she probably shouldn't have. Then when her twins were miraculously brought into her life, one of them turned out to be deaf.

Yes, deafness happened. It was just one of those things. But given how much trauma her little babies had gone through so much trauma while they were inside her, it was a little hard to dispute that Astrid's accident and behaviors might have had something to do with her boy's disability, no matter how hard Hiccup tried to.

Who was to say something wouldn't go horribly wrong this time? She was a Haddock and bad things did seem to happen to their family.

Clutching her stomach she trudged back to the house. A baby. Her baby. She was carrying a tiny, precious human being inside her, and everything she did from that point on until the birth was going to affect her child. She began shuddering at the thought. As she mounted the steps and collapsed onto her bed.

She didn't cry, didn't call out. She just lied there, clutching her stomach and shivering. She ran her fingers over the tones muscles that would soon disappear, unless she just didn't show again like the first time. She'd gotten lucky her first time. That tumble she'd taken off of Stormfly should have killed her children, yet they somehow survived. Should some other accident befall her this time…

…she might not be as fortunate.

As the worry and fear plagued her, she heard the bedroom door open and the familiar cadence of "step, click, step, click," that signified Hiccup had come into the room.

"Astrid?" he asked as he sat behind her on the bed.

Astrid didn't respond, just nodded towards him in acknowledgement.

"Hey," Hiccup lied down next to her and set his arm around her. "What's wrong?"

Astrid didn't respond right away, just lied there, rubbing her stomach. Finally she took a deep breath, and answered.

"I'm pregnant."

Hiccup sat up, a look of excitement on his face. "Are you serious?"

Astrid nodded, and Hiccup scooped her up into a tight hug as he chuckled gleefully.

"Oh my gosh! This is-wow! I'm going to be a Daddy all over again?"

Astrid smiled at her husband's excitement, though worry still gnawed at the back of her mind. Hiccup caught note of this and let her go to look at her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked again. "Do you not want this?"

"What? No, of course I do. I just…aren't we…I don't know."

"Yeah you do," Hiccup caressed her face. "Talk to me."

Astrid set a hand on her belly again.

"I'm scared," she replied.

Hiccup was a little surprised. Though they'd been married for five years now it was still rare for Astrid to admit she was scared, even to him.

"Why?"

"Because…we almost lost Annly and Torinth, Hiccup, what if-"

"Don't do that, Astrid," Hiccup cupped her face in both of his hands. "Don't think about the 'what if's.' You'll drive yourself crazy."

"I can't help it. You know our track record for trouble. It's not that hard to imagine something happening to me while-"

"Stop it!" Hiccup wasn't angry, just firm, but his rise in voice still caught her off guard. "No need to worry about that unless it actually happens."

"By then it will be too late," Astrid sighed. "I need to find a way to keep this baby safe so I don't have a repeat of the twin's pregnancy. And mess up another kid for life."

"Astrid, for the thousandth time, Torinth being deaf is not your fault. It could hav-"

"Could have happened to anyone accident or not. I know. I know."

"Even if your accident had caused his deafness, you didn't cause the accident. The hunters did."

"But I didn't take any precautions afterwards. In fact I think I drank enough for three of me the week afterwards-"

"Because you thought you'd miscarried. Also not your fault because, once again, it's the hunters fault."

Astrid huffed another sigh. Hiccup smiled softly at her and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or this baby. I promise."

Astrid smiled weakly at him. Though she knew her husband meant well, and would no doubt do anything and everything in his power to protect her and their babies, there were some things that were out of his control, and it was those things that terrified her.

"We'll take precautions, though, so no flying for a while, okay?"

Astrid groaned at the thought of being grounded for the next few months, but she knew it was for the best.

"Alright," she sighed. Hiccup nuzzled his face into her hair.

"Now stop worrying yourself sick, okay Mommy?"

Astrid smiled as she snuggled against his chest. "Okay. I'll try."

"There we go," Hiccup kissed the top of her head, then let her go so he could lean down and kiss her belly.

"Try not to give Mommy too much trouble these next few months, okay?" he asked the baby as Astrid chuckled and ran her fingers through his hair.


	21. Stronger

Stronger:

 **AN:** **Trigger warning again. This is another Viddi centered story, though not as depressing as the last one, still putting a warning up for safe measure though.**

 **Also, I have a bit of a bone to pick with certain readers…Please stop asking me to update "Dagur's Return" after every update I do to this story. I'm going to be as polite but honest as I can be here, but there are three big reasons why I want you to stop doing this:**

 **1.)** **It's annoying. Yes, I will update it when I can, but you've got to understand I do have a life outside of fanfiction, and my real life family and friends, and obligations take priority over all of this. I will get the updates done as soon as I can, you don't have to keep reminding me.**

 **2.)** **It's rude. You commenting on this story thread about another story tells me you don't care at all about this story and only care about "Dagur's Return," which if that's the case, fine, but don't clutter up my feed with needless pokes and reminders. It takes away space and time I could be using to answer questions, critiques, and requests.**

 **3.)** **It makes you look bad. By constantly begging me for something over and over and over again, you make it seem like you are immature and impatient. I'm not saying you are, but that is how you make it seem. Please understand that I have other things to do and limited time to spend on these fanfics. I will update as soon as I can.**

Hiccup pushed the front door of his house open, Astrid following behind him. There had been a series of attacks on Berk ships, and they'd just received a letter from Dagur that Dragon's Edge had just suffered sever damage from a ramsack.

So far the attacks seemed random, and there was, as of now, no clues as to who was responsible. Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. Things hadn't been this bleak in a long while. With now trace to who was behind all of this, there was no way for them to fight back. They were on the defense, and Vikings didn't like to be there for long.

Astrid was feeling just as cheerless as she trailed behind him. Valka was seated in the living room with Handalf in her lap, reading him a story as Jiniva lay on her stomach in front of them. They all turned and looked up as the couple made their way inside.

"Daddy?" Jiniva asked as she stood up and ran to Hiccup's side. "Did you find out who's behind all the attacks on us and Uncle Dagur?"

"No," Hiccup answered as he patted the young girl's head. Astrid walked passed them and went upstairs. She peeked into the boy's room, and found Torinth polishing his sword. He didn't notice her come in, and she left it that way, going back the way she came. There's was nothing to tell him, really. There'd been another attack and still no answers. She then peaked into the girl's room. Annly was tossing throwing knives at a target across the room, hitting bulls-eyes every time, though she seemed only mildly interested in what she was doing.

Astrid frowned as she looked about the room. Viddi wasn't in her room, and she wasn't downstairs, so where was she? Astrid check the washroom, the basement, the kitchen, but couldn't find her. She was beginning to walk towards the stables, when she noticed the shape of a young girl with a mess of curly hair sitting on the roof. Not bothering to go back inside, Astrid shimmied up the framework and then clambered up the siding until she reached the roof.

Viddi must have heard her mother coming, because when Astrid reached the top she was facing her, wide eyed, a hand clasped behind her back.

"There you are," Astrid sighed as she hoisted herself all the way up and brushed her hands on her skirt. Though she still kept her trademark spikes on her belt, she'd taken them off her skirt upon becoming a mother for her children's safety. She'd considered putting them back now that they were all older, but because Handalf had seemed to have inherited his father's clumsiness, she was wary about it.

Viddi just stared at her, eyes gaping wide at her.

"Been tearing the house apart looking for you," Astrid stated as she straightened herself up. "What are you doing up here?"

"Nothing," Viddi quickly answered.

Astrid gestured to her hand behind her back. "What have you got there?"

"Nothing."

"You, my child, are a horrible liar," Astrid rolled her eyes as she held out her hand. "Give it here."

Viddi just stared at her, scared faced.

"Gimmee," Astrid insisted.

Viddi slowly, cautiously brought her hand out from behind her back. It was dripping with blood, she held it open to revealed a freshly sharpened knife she'd been clasping by the blade, letting it slice into her flesh.

It took Astrid a second to register what she was seeing. But when she did, she snatched the knife out of her daughter's hand. She immediately dropped it as a burning sensation shot from the burning hot metal into her fingers. Freshly sharpened and freshly heated? Astrid grabbed Viddi by the back of her head and shook her a bit.

"What on earth do you think you're doing you stupid girl!?" she thundered.

Viddi gasped, tears in her eyes as she began to tremble. Astrid immediately regretted her reaction and pulled Viddi into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized. Viddi sniffled into her mother's shoulder. "I'm sorry, it's going to be alright."

Astrid hugged her daughter closer for a minute longer, then led her back into the master bedroom through the trap door on the roof. Hiccup was seated on the bed when they came in. He stood up, confused at first, then he noticed Viddi's bloody palm, and the knife in Astrid's hand.

"Not again," he groaned as he stepped closer to his daughter and clasped her face in his hands. "Viddi, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Viddi I told you to come and get me if you ever felt like doing this again, now tell me what's going on."

"Nothing," Viddi repeated in a surprisingly firm voice. "I'm not depressed."

"Then why are you hurting yourself?"

"I'm trying to make myself stronger."

Hiccup and Astrid shared a confused scowl, before Hiccup asked:

"Viddi, what do you mean?"

"There's an enemy out there trying to take down Berk, isn't there?" Viddi replied. "Suppose they come and attack us at our shores. I might have to fight them. I can't do that if I'm not strong."

"Viddi, you're thirteen, you won't be fighting anyone," Hiccup sighed.

"Ideally, no. But things don't always go the ideal route, do they?" Viddi challenged. "Torinth was a year younger than I when he fought off an outcast to protect the rest of us. If I get into a situation like that where I have to protect myself, or Jiniva, or Handalf I have to be ready."

"And how is burning and cutting yourself going to do that?" Astrid demanded to know.

Viddi hung her head shyly and dug at the floor with her toe. "It makes me get used to pain. Get numb to it."

"You don't want to do that," Astrid stated. "Pain tells you when it's time to fall back. Pain is good thing."

"Falling back isn't always an option," Viddi challenged again. "Sometimes you've got to push through it."

"And that does take strength," Astrid agreed. "And there are ways to make yourself stronger, but this," she held up the knife, "Isn't it. This isn't healthy. Hurting yourself is only going to make you weaker."

Viddi let her gaze fall to the floor again. Astrid stepped towards her and set a hand on her shoulder.

"If you want to be ready for a fight, Viddi, you have to take care of your weapons. Your body and your mind are your greatest weapons. Without them you can't wield an axe, or hammer, or sword. And when you don't have any of those at your disposal, you have to depend on your fists and your wit to get you through. If you're constantly cutting up your hands and arms and telling yourself that your pain doesn't matter, though, you aren't taking care of yourself or making yourself stronger. You're tearing yourself apart."

Viddi was silent as she thought her mother's words over.

"So what do I do?" Viddi asked.

"First, you let us fix up that hand," Astrid answered. "Then you get a good night's rest, and I'll see if I can't get you a little extra training in."


	22. Washed Up

Washed Up:

 **AN: I'm back! And jumping way ahead into the future for this one!**

No one told him, but he knew it: Snotlout was getting old. And he was getting old fast. It was his own fault. It was no secret that he had not been taking care of himself over the past 18 years, and it showed. Ever since Eleetha left him he had taken quite a liking to alcohol, especially at night when he really started feeling sorry for himself. Was it stupid? Yeah. Did it backfire on him just like Hiccup, and Astrid, and Fishlegs, and Heather, and all the others said it would? Yup. By the time he realized what a toll it was taking not only on himself, but the one person who really mattered in his life anymore: Jadis, he was already stuck in a rut with the one person he could never bring himself to stand up to: his father.

To be fair, Spitelout had taken to the rough and tumble, drink and be merry, boast during the day, party during the evening lifestyle long before Snotlout dipped into it. He wildly encouraged Snotlout's spiral into the wild life, though. Thinking back on it now, Spitelout had a hand in most of the bad choices Snotlout had made.

Not today though, Snotlout thought as he trudged back towards the house. Today things were going to change, just for a moment though. Snotlout knew he did not have the guts to completely cut his dad out of his life. He could, however, stand up to him just long enough to get Jadis out of the hole he had dug her into. He'd have to.

Snotlout took a deep breath as he pushed to door to their house open. Spitelout sat cross-legged on the floor, polishing his mace.

"Dad, we need to talk," Snotlout said.

Spitelout arched an eyebrow as he looked up at Snotlout. "'We need to talk?' Can't even remember the last time anyone told me that. What's so important you've got to come storming into my house saying we need to talk?"

"Hiccup is coming by this afternoon."

"What did you do?" Spitelout jumped to his feet, bewildered.

"Nothing, yet," Snotlout answered.

"Yet?"

Snotlout took a deep sigh, sat down, and continued. "As you know, if you were paying attention-"

"Watch it, boy-"

"-Jadis turned 18 two weeks ago."

"Yeah, I knew."

"Well, she's a woman now."

"Don't get sentimental on me."

"She's old enough to be betrothed and married."

Spitelout suddenly got very interested in the conversation. "Yes?"

Snotlout took a deep sigh. "So, Hiccup is coming down this afternoon to negotiate a marriage contract between her and Torinth."

Spitelout was silent for a minute. He then hung his mace back and the wall, and sat down across from Spitelout.

"Well, is he going to change his name to Jorgenson."

"Dad, he's the heir, of course he's not-"

"Then that's that, right?"

Snotlout closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bracing for the explosion that was bound to happen.

"No."

"What?"

"No.

"No!?"

"She loves him, Dad, okay? She's happy with him."

"W-w-w-w-what's that matter!? I'm sorry, if you had been big enough to have a son to carry on the Jorgenson family name, that Jadis could go with whoever she wanted, but y'didn't, therefore it's up to her-"

"Dad, look at us!" Snotlout groaned. "We're two washed-up warrior who can only boast of our old triumphs over booze! No decent man will agree to take our name, and I want my daughter to be married to a decent man."

"I'm sure we can find an alright fella who-"

"Like you found Eleetha for me? Yeah, that worked out real well! No, Dad, Jadis is marrying Torinth. End of discussion."

"You're telling me 'end of discussion?' You're clearly not thinking straight. This is about the Jorgenson family line-"

"No, this is about Jadis. And, again, look at us! At one time the Jorgensons were the best family Berk. Now there is only 3 of us left. You've become the town nuisance. If I wasn't one of the original riders I would have been kicked off the force. Everyone knows it. I'm basically the team mascot now. We're nobodies! And then there's Jadis," Snotlout's throat grew tight. "Jadis is amazing, dad. She's smart. She's strong. She has a chance to make something of herself...but no as long as she's tuck with us. We'll drag her down, just like you dragged me down. This is her chance to get out."

"You're talking nonsense. I dragged you down? How did I drag you down! And what's this 'she can't make it as long as she's with us.' She's a Jorgenso-"

"Oh, you still want to make this about you, okay fine! Let's make it about us!" Snotlout stood to up. "Torinth is the heir. The chief's son! The bride price they're going to offer will be huge! Enough livestock that, if we play our cards right, can provide for us for the rest of our lives. We'll be set. But that's beside the point because this isn't about us, it's about Jadis. We can't take care of her forever. We've never done a good job of it to begin with. Torinth can."

"He's deaf! What do you mean-"

"He's the greatest swordsman on Berk, he's a highly qualified healer, he is one of the leaders of the young riders, and, again, he's the heir of Berk. He can take care of her. And, Valhalla forbid, something should happen to him he has four siblings who could take care of her in his absence. If she stays with us what will she do when we get old and pass away? She'll be all alone. That's no kind of life to live. Spend all your days taking care of two washed up drunks only to be all alone in your later years. No."

"I told you not to get sentimental. We can still find someone else if your that set on marrying her off."

"No, Dad. She's marrying Torinth. Hiccup will be here in a few hours, we'll draw up a contract, and I'm signing it. That's that. End of discussion."

"Not if I have anything to say about it! We have to keep our family name-"

"Okay, fine, you go tell Hiccup and Astrid that their son isn't good enough for Jadis yourself. Tell me how it goes."

"So that's what this is about. You're too scared of the chief's wrath to say no."

"No, this is about me wanting my daughter to be happy."

Spitelout sighed loudly, picked his mace back off the wall, and began polishing it again.

"You're making a mistake, lad."

"Yeah, well add it to the list."

"Do you realize that-"

"Do YOU realize that you're not Jadis' father and you really have no say in this?"

"I'm not going to sit back and watch our legacy disappear like a puff of smoke!"

"Just because our line is ending doesn't mean our legacy will."

"Pitiful. You know nothing about how the world works, not even at 43."

"The world? Pfft. At this point let it burn. What have I got to lose? All I want to do is make sure my daughter is happy and cared for, and she's neither here. So I'm giving her away to someone who can do better than me."

"How did I raise such a sap!?"

"I don't know, maybe not raising me at all had something to do with it!"

"You watch your tongue, boy!"

"For crying out loud, I'm 43, can you atleast give me the dignity of-"

"Guys?"

The door creaked open and Jadis stepped in. Snotlout stared at her. Long black hair, sparkling grey eyes, toned muscles, weathered hands, tall and strong physique. She was most certainly a woman.

His baby girl. A woman.

She'd grown up while his back was turned and he never noticed until it was too late. While he had been wallowing in self pity, she was pushing through the hardships without a word of complaint. While he selfishly tried to gain honor, she selflessly sought to do the right thing. While her was cowering behind his father and his "glorious" family name, she was taking on the world. He was the final straw that broke the back of his family line. She made a name for herself through perseverance, discipline, courage, integrity…

...and she did it all alone.

He failed her. Every step of the way he had failed her. But not this time. He couldn't go back and fix the past. He could, however, make sure her future was as bright as it could be.

"Is everything okay?" Jadis asked, drawing closer.

"Everything's fine, sweetheart. Go get dressed in something nice, and do your hair all up pretty will you," Snotlout quickly answered.

"Why, is something happening?" Jadis asked excitedly.

"I don't know, you tell me," Snotlout playfully retorted.

"Dad…"

"Well, alright, I'll tell you. I have recently been alerted that we are expecting a visit from the Chief and his lovely family later today."

"What for?" Jadis was practically bouncing.

"Really, Jay? Hm. Chief is coming to visit. You've been courting his son for two years now. You turned 18 two weeks ago. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one around her, gee!"

"EEEEE!" Jadis threw her arms around her father's neck before racing back to her room.

Spitelout huffed angrily and went back to his polishing.

Later that afternoon, Snotlout was sitting across from Hiccup as Fishlegs worked to write up the contract. Anyone who didn't know any better would never guess the two men were the same age. Outside of an occasional white hair here and a full well-trimmed beard, Hiccup hadn't really aged that much. Snotlout, on the other hand, had wrinkles appearing here, and there, and everywhere, and his hair had several grey streaks appearing throughout it.

Spitelout had opted not to attend the meeting and was instead sulking in the back storage room. Meanwhile, Snotlout twirled his thumbs as he watched Fishlegs scribble on the single piece of the paper that would give his daughter away to Torinth, who was currently smiling lovingly at her from across the table, as both young adults were seated next to their fathers. Astrid sat on the other side of Hiccup. Since Eleetha was still missing, and no sign of her had been shown since Jadis' birth, Snotlout only had Jadis on his side, and that soon would no longer be.

"Alright," Fishlegs said. "The bride-price will include: 5 gold pieces, 10 silver, 15 copper, a yak, 5 pigs, and 7 chickens. So now onto the dowry, Snotlout what are you planning on offeri-"

"The house," Spitelout grumbled as he finally stepped out into the living room.

"Huh?" everyone asked.

"No reason for me to stay on this hunk of rock if I'm just gonna watch my family name disappear from history. I'm moving to Storehouse Island."

"Wha-just like tha-what?" Hiccup sputtered.

"Honestly, be reasonable," Astrid sighed.

"It's not that bad, Grandpa," Jadis murmured quietly. "Besides I was kind of hoping you-"

"That I'd what? Come to the wedding? Nope."

Jadis winced. Torinth scowled at the older man as he reached across the table to comfortingly squeeze his fiancee's hand.

"Well, what about Dad?" Jadis asked.

"He's coming with me," Spitelout said, glaring at his son.

Snotlout blinked, surprised. "I am?"

"What are you going to here? Besides, I'll need help keeping the island up."

"Spitelout-" Hiccup tried to intervene.

"Put the house down as the dowry, we'll take everything else with us."

"Not Eleetha's things," Snotlout spoke up weakly.

"She took everything with her, didn't she?" Astrid asked.

"Not everything, she left a few things here. I put them up in a chest in my closet. Those stay with Jadis."

"Fine, but the rest is coming with us," Spitelout shrugged.

"So, wait, Dad, you're leaving?" Jadis asked, teary-eyed.

Snotlout looked at her. She was about to get a fresh start. She didn't need him anymore. Besides, what was he going to do in Berk with his daughter grown and married? He was barely a rider anymore. Like he said, he was basically a mascot now.

"I'll be back for the wedding."

Jadis gasped, turned away, but shed no tears. A silence so tense it could be cut with a knife followed.

"Okay, so the house, the land it's on, and the trunk of Eleetha's old things will be the dowry. All that's left is the after-morning gift, but that can be decided upon at a different time, so Snotlout if you could just sing here, that's good, and now I'm going to go. I'll get Hiccup and Astrid's signatures once after morning gift is decided uponseyoulatergottagobye!"

And with that Fishlegs bolted out the door.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Hiccup all but fumed as he followed Snotlout to his room.

"I'm getting my dad out of her hair."

"Out of her hair, what?"

"I pissed him off by agreeing to sign the marriage contract. If I go against him much longer he'll explode. Besides, now that Jadis is soon to be married there's nothing left for me on Berk."

"Um...watching her continue to grow and mature? Being there for all her future accomplishments? Grandkids? There's plenty-"

"For you. For Astrid. But not for me," Snotlout opened his closet and stepped inside.

"Snotlout, what are you-"

"You tried to warn me a long time ago, Hiccup, and I didn't listen. Now I'm paying the price. I've failed Jadis. She doesn't need me weighing her down now. She's getting a fresh start."

"Why don't you let her decide whether or not she needs you in her-what's that?" Hiccup asked as Snotlout dragged a large trunk out.

"Eleetha's old stuff," he answered as he opened it.

"Snotlout, this isn't Eleetha's old stuff."

"Yeah it is. Some of her jewelry, her wedding dress, her bridal crown,-"

"But the rest of this isn't. This is some of your stuff. Weapons, armo-"

"Sh!" Snotlout waved his hands wildly. "Don't blab, otherwise my dad will want to take it with us. Now watch the door."

Snotlout slipped back into his closet, grabbed a bag of coins, some furs, wrist cuffs, and pendants, and began stuffing them in the trunk.

"Snotlout, what are you doing?"

"Making sure my little girl is taken care of," Snotlout answered as he began digging under his bed.

"Snotlout-"

"I can't take care of her Hiccup. I never could."

"Snot-"

"Okay, I could have, but made all the wrong choices, now I'm stuck where I'm at. I'm all washed-up, I've burned too many bridges here on Berk to make anything of myself," My dad, though I'm not exactly a fan of him, is still my dad. So it's only right I go and make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"And what about your daughter?" Hiccup challenged.

Snotlout dumped another bag of coins, a few pendants, a set of throwing knives, and three cuffs with jewels in them into the trunk, locked it up, and hauled it over his shoulder as he marched outside. Jadis and Torinth were standing outside, hugging each other tightly. Torinth's face buried in Jadis' hair, planting an occasional kiss here and there. Snotlout dropped the trunk and pulled Torinth away from her by the shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you not married yet so watch it."

"Dad!" Jadis looked ready to punch him.

"Jadis, listen," Snotlout took his daughter's hands in his. "I know I have not been the best father. And I'm not asking for apology. Just know that everything I did today was for the best for you."

"You're trying to tell me that-"

"Anything I did in the past. Everything I do tomorrow, feel free to criticize me for. But today, everything I did was for you. I know you're mad at me for leaving, but this will be good for you. It will get your grandfather and me out of your way so you and Torinth can go live your life. I will be back for the wedding."

"Dad…" Jadis whispered.

"You're an amazing young woman Jadis. Don't forget that." Snotlout hugged her, then turned to Torinth.

"Take care of my daughter. And don't open that trunk until after the wedding."

And then he left before anyone could see he was crying.


	23. Generation Gap

**Generation Gap:**

 **AN: So, originally Mavoc, my OC who was to be a love interst for Annly was just some random joe who showed up, but after viewing the last season of RTTE I have decided to make him the son of Dagur and Mala.**

 _ **Ages and statues of the Hiccstrid babies:**_

 **Torinth: 22, married to Jadis, who is pregnant.**

 **Annly: 22, engaged to be married Mavock.**

 **Viddi: 19, courting Lars, not yet engaged. Dragon's Edge at the moment.**

 **Jiniva: 15, single, loud, and proud!**

 **Handalf: 11, not even thinking about romance yet, LOL!**

 _SMACK!_

Jiniva all but growled as she retrieved her axe from the tree she'd just embedded it in. She'd been out here at this for about an hour now and she still wasn't feeling any better. How dare that man talk to her like that? How dare he tell her she was selfish for wanting to move to Dragon's Edge permanently? How dare he say she was going to destroy Berk just because she never had any desire to marry? How dare he tell her she was obliagted to bear children? She was literally one of five children! There were four others who could do that job for her! Well, two, actually. Torinth and Handalf could get married and their wives could have children, though. Heck, Torinth was already doing that! Sure, Jadis wasn't showing yet, but still…

Jiniva threw her axe again and retrieved it. It was bad enough she was having to be a bridesmaid for Annly's wedding. Just the thought of she herself getting married made her shudder. To have to be tied down to someone for life? And then having to raise kids? Give birth to kids? Make bab-

Jiniva shuddered and gaged as she threw her axe again. Nope! Nope! Nope! Family life was not for her. No way! No how!

How was that selfish? It was her life. How was her staying single going to affect anyone else. Her parents would get plenty of grandkids from the other four. She wasn't trampling on her siblings rights to get married, have babies, and be happy. Heck, the idea of being an aunt actually did sound awesome. All the more reason for her to be single. How was she supposed to be a cool aunt taking her nieces and nephews on crazy adventures if she had her own kids to worry about?

Furthermore, while Dragon's Edge had been a valuable fort to all of the Dragon Friendly villages, as more and more villages joined their fellowship it had become apparent that the old place needed some revision. When it was just a few villages that were in partnership with Berk and the dragons, Dragon's Edge worked perfectly fine. The young adults who had outgrown the academies of their village, but weren't quite old enough to marry, produce children, or join in the politics and management of their villages, would go and conduct research of dragons and exploration of the archipegalo for one to two years at the Edge. After their time at the Edge was up, they returned home, and began their adult lives. Her parents had done it. Annly and Torinth had done it. Viddi was at the Edge right now, set to return in five months. In a few years it would be Jiniva's turn to go, and she wasn't planning on coming back.

It was a good system...for a while. Now as the world was getting bigger and bigger it became obvious that it would probably be best if someone stayed at the Edge to conduct the research and full time. Things were also starting to get more and more dangerous. Having an experineced mentor for the young adults visiting the Edge would soon be a must. Since Jiniva never planned to marry or have children, she was the perfect candidate. She was doing everyone a favor! And yet he had the nerve to call her selfish?

"ERGH!" Jiniva launched her axe again, splitting a small sappling in two.

"Now, what did that tree ever do to you?" a familar voice called from behind her. Jiniva sighed as she turned around to find her father dismounting from Toothless and walking towards her, a satchel slung over his shoulder. She didn't even bother retrieving her axe as she ran up to him.

"Savage told me I-"

"I know what Savage said," Hiccup held up his hand as a sign for Jiniva to calm down. "He told me in between the moans and groans and Torinth patching up that broken nose you gave him."

Jiniva groaned and threw her arms in the air. "Ugh, fine! So go ahead and tell me I stepped out of line and get it over with!"

"Jiniva Astrid Haddock, I know you didn't just try to sass me," Hiccup placed his hands on his hips.

Jiniva hung her head. "Sorry, Dad."

Hiccup sighed as he sat down on the grass and began digging threw his satchel. "Now, I suppose after murdering, let's see...one, two, three, four trees you've worked up a bit of an appetite."

He pulled out two trout sandwiches and held one out to his daughter. Jiniva smiled ever so slightly as she sat down next to her father.

"Thanks," she said as she took the sandwich from him and took a bite.

Hiccup waited a while, taking a bit himself and tossing Toothless a full, uncooked, trout, before speaking.

"I know Savage is ignorant and obscene," he finally spoke. "Still, that doesn't give you the right to attack him like you did."

"He was trying to tell me I was being selfish! I'm not hurting anyone!"

"Well, outside of Savage and his now disfigured nose, no," Hiccup agreed before taking a deep sigh and passing Jiniva a canteen of water. "Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there like Savage. And if you decide that staying at the Edge full time when you're older is what you really want, you're going to hear a lot of stuff like that."

"But I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"No, but you are doing something...well...different. Out of the mold, so to speak."

"So what, you did something different and changed the world for the better."

"Well, that depends on who you ask," Hiccup awkwardly scratched at the back of his head and sighed. This was the part of parenting he hated.

"Here's what you've got to understand, Jiniva. Back when I was a kid, before Toothless came along, things were different than what they are now. Everything was focused on the war, and because of that people didn't really...well...explore so to speak. You grew up to be a warrior, or something to help with the war. You got married. You had kids so they could fight in the war once you were gone. And that was that. Nobody questioned it. Nobody stopped to think 'hey, maybe there's something else out there for me. Maybe there's somethign better.' Now a few of the men were able to get out of it. Gobber, for example. He was able to use his shop as an excuse to not get married. Someone had to keep making weapons. And if that someone had a family, that would mean less time in the shop and less weapons. For women, though, it was a little harder. You are the ones who get pregnant and have babies. Women had to get married so there could be more Vikings to replace the ones getting killed in the war."

"That sounds terrible," Jiniva said in a matter of fact voice.

"Yeah, it was not the best of times," Hiccup agreed. "But that's how it was. How it had been for 300 years. For 300 years we'd been conditioned to stick to the status quo. When my dad singed me up for training he told me 'when you carry that axe, you carry all of us with you. You talk like us. You think like us.' If you stepped out of line, you could potentially cause the death of your fellow Viking. At least, that was the mindset."

"But things are different now, aren't they?" Jiniva said.

"Yes…" Hiccup scratched the back of his head again. "But a lot of peope still have that mindset. Don't question anything. Just do your part. Do exactly what is expected of you. And since most people get married and have kids when they become adults that is what's expected."

"But just because everyone else does it doesn't mean I have to. I mean, honestly, if I never marry and have kids what's the worst that happens? I don't leave a kid behind to leav all my stuff to? Spoiler alert, I have four siblings. Who knows how many nieces and nephews I'll have. I'll just pick my favorite and give everything to them. Problem solved!"

Hiccup chuckled slightly as he wagged a finger at her. "See? See that? You're questioning things. You are daring to ask yourself 'maybe there's something else out there better for me than the norm.' All of you kids are like that, and I am SO thankful that you are. It's why I always tried to encourage your curiosity while raising you guys. Most people aren't like that though."

"Why not?"

"Well, stepping away from the norm and going into the unknown is scary."

"We're Vikings!" Jiniva excalimed. "We're supposed to run towards the scary things, aren't we?"

"Theoretically, but obviously that's not always the case."

"Why not?" Jiniva crossed her arms.

"Well, think about it. Vikings are known for facing any danger that comes their way with brute force and stubborness. But when it comes to change, I mean, you can't whack change over the head with a mace. You can't hold it under seige and wait it out. Change is a power bigger than any man or dragon in the archipegalo. And Vikings don't like being the weaker being. So most of us just try to keep change at an arms legnth. Keep it away so we don't have to deal with it. But some of us," he cupped a hand under Jiniva's chin. "Are brave enough to look it in the eye and say 'bring it on.'"

Jiniva's face lit up into a soft smile. "You've got big things ahead of you Jin. And even if you were to marry and have children like everyone else there would be naysayers telling you you're doing it wrong. And there is a way to deal with them. And, no, it does not involved breaking their noses."

"Aw," Jiniva playfully pouted as Hiccup laughed at her. Jiniva grew serious once more very quickly though. "So, how do I deal with people telling me that I'm selfish, or immature, or irresponisble, or-"

"You ignore them."

"WHAT!?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I knew you weren't going to like that."

"So I just let them push me around!?"

"I didn't say that," Hiccup rolled her eyes. "Thor's sake, you are so much like your mother! No, do defend yourself when need be. But don't let them get under your skin. Eventually, if you keep pushing ahead and doing well, you'll prove them wrong. And that will be the worst thing you can do to them. Nothing makes a crusty old man more angry than being one-upped by the person they looked down upon as being a worhtless troublemaker."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience," Jiniva grinned.

"Maybe...You can't prove anything," Hiccup playfully snapped back.

Jiniva chuckled as Hiccup wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

"You go on and live your life, whatever that is."

"Being a mentor and full time Resident on Dragon's Edge," Jiniva reminded her father in a firm tone.

"Well, don't be surprised if life throws a wrench in those plans. Happens all the time."

Jiniva rolled her eyes. "Dad, I told you and Mom. I am never getting marri-"

"I wasn't necesarrily talking about that," Hiccup rolled his eyes in turn. "Now, if you do find someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, don't fight against it just because you told your old man when you were fifteen you'd never marry. Again, things change. But I was mostly talking about things like, well, this," he lifted his left leg a gestured dramatically to the prosthetic attached to it.

"That," He jabbed his thumb to Toothless who was rolling aorund in the grass. He closed his eyes and thought. "Your uncle Dagur is now a good guy and hasn't killed me." He let out a forlorn sigh. "And he'll officially be family because you sister is marrying his son, I still don't know how to feel about that…"

Jiniva giggled as Hiccup hugged her.

"Just hava a good life, Jiniva. That's all I want of you."

"I will."

"I know."


End file.
